-NRLF 


UNIVERSITY 


THE    HORSE; 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND  SELL. 


GIVING  THE  POINTS  WHICH  DISTINGUISH  A  . 


SOUND  FEOM  AN  UNSOUND  HOESE. 


BY 

PETEE    HOWDEN 


'UNIVERSITY 


NEW  YORK: 
ORANGE    JUDD    COMPANY, 

751   BROADWAY. 

1882. 


I- 

H 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1882,  by  tbe 

ORANGE   JUDD    COMPANY, 
lu  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PUBLISHEKS'    PBEFACE. 


The  rapidly  growing  fondness  among  both  sexes  for 
Horses  in  the  United  States,  is  very  naturally  develop- 
ing a  desire  for  knowledge  regarding  the  points  and 
characteristics  of  this  noble  animal.  Hitherto  this 
knowledge  has  been  c©wfisaeji<to  few.  The  present 
volume  abounds  in  general  information,  stated  in  so 
clear  and  simple  a  manner  as  to  enable  every  one  to 
intelligently  buy  and  sell  a  horse. 


PREFACE. 

The  object  of  the  present  work  is  to  explain,  in  the 
simplest  manner,  what  constitutes  a  sound  and  what  an 
unsound  horse;  to  note  doubtful  points,  and  such  things 
as  operate  against  the  proper  development  of  the  animal 
in  all  parts;  and  further,  as  an  "  unsound  horse"  is  often 
less  dangerous  and  more  useful  than  the  common  ac- 
ceptation of  the  word  " unsound"  would  imply,  I  shall 
take  pains  to  distinguish  real  from  imaginary  defects. 

To  recapitulate  the  objects  of  this  little  treatise,  they 
are — 

1.  To  ascertain  what  constitutes  strict  soundness  in 

the  horse. 

2.  To   note   deviations  from   soundness   unimportant 

except  as  to  their  effect  on  the  market  value  of  the 
animal. 

3.  General  observations  on  used  horses. 

As,  of  necessity,  these  subjects  sometimes  run  into 
each  other,  a  copious  index  at  the  end  of  this  book  will 
save  the  reader  any  perplexity,  and  enable  him  to  find 
what  he  wants. 


There  have  from  time  to  time  been  published  plenty 
of  books  upon  the  real  and  imaginary  perfections  of  the 
horse;  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  no  horse  ever  came 
up  to  the  standard  of  excellence  set  up  by  the  authors 
of  these  works.  Of  course  not.  These  writers  have 
brought  together  a  collection  of  equine  excellences,  and 
made  it  appear  to  the  general  reader  that  a  sound  and 
good  horse  possesses  them  all.  Such  argument  is  not 
based  on  common  sense.  As  well  expect  to  find  the  av- 
7 


8  PREFACE. 

erage  human  form  as  divinely  beautiful  as  the  Apollo 
Belvidere  or  the  Venus  de  Medici;  or,  at  least,  to  reject 
as  models  for  the  student  in  sculpture  or  painting  all 
subjects  not  ""  thoroughly  up  to  the  mark."  Nobody, 
nothing,  is  perfect  according  to  our  own  artificial  stan- 
dards; but  with  a  little  attention  to  practical  detail,  as 
laid  down  by  men  of  experience,  and  a  large  allowance 
of  common  sense,  we  may  find  the  tools  for  our  work. 

There  are  few  horses  that  would  stand  the  strict  test 
of  examination  for  purposes  of  unqualified  warranty, 
even  among  those  that  have  not  been  worked;  but  few 
indeed  would  be  those  that  had  been  worked  that  would 
not  fall  under  the  denomination  of  unsound. 

One  of  the  most  experienced  men  in  the  business,  who 
dealt  for  many  years  in  horses  for  those  who  can  and  will 
have  the  best  animals  in  the  country,  said,  "Not  one  in 
three  of  fresh. unused  horses  would  pass  an  examination; 
and  when  a  horse  has  reached  five  years  without  work, 
reject  him.  Do  not  trouble  yourself  to  find  out  what  it 
is,  there  is  certainly  something  wrong  about  the  brute." 
My  experience  bears  out  this  counsel.  In  quadrupeds 
and  men  destined  to  labor,  there  must  be  some  inherent 
deficiency  in  them  if  they  go  long  without  work. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that,  even  where  "  price  is 
no  object,"  the  purchaser  cannot  insure  the  possession  of 
a  perfect  animal,  according  to  any  abstract  standard. 
There  are  very  few  really  bad  horses,  and,  providing  horses 
are  properly  "  placed,"  that  is,  put  to  their  right  use — 
the  use  to  which  nature  fitted  them — all  difficulties  in 
dealing  in  horse-flesh  will  vanish.  There  is  not  a  grain 
of  sense  or  truth  in  the  assertion  that  the  horses  of  to-day 
are  far  inferior  to  the  "well-bred  horse  of  old."  Again, 
exceptions  do  not  always  prove  the  rule,  and  the  references 
to  one  or  more  old  beauties  amongst  a  lot  of  young  and 
not  beautiful  animals  go  for  nothing;  or  prove  no  more 
than  that  the  favorites  of  older  days  were  not  over- 


PREFACE.  9 

worked.  Horses  not  over-worked  improve  in  beauty 
from  eight  to  sixteen  years.  During  that  period  the  car- 
tilage becomes  absorbed,  the  head  smaller  and  sharper  in 
outline;  the  prominent  bones  and  tissues  again  present  a 
youthful  roundness,  the  legs  become  fine,  and  the  ten- 
dons acquire  a  sharp,  well-defined  appearance;  the  horse 
himself  might  be  taken  by  a  good  judge  to  be  much 
younger  than  in  reality  he  is,  did  not  his  mouth  bear  ev- 
idence to  the  contrary.  The  connoisseur,  however, 
rarely  needs  the  evidence  of  the  mouth,  the  general  shape 
and  contour  of  the  horse  being  in  most  cases  sufficient. 

It  may  be  some  consolation  to  those  whose  knowledge 
or  rather  predilection  for  certain  horses  is  derived  from 
books,  to  learn  that  large  "  users"  very  rarely  obtain  ex- 
actly such  horses  as  they  would  choose,  they  therefore 
adopt  the  wise  course  of  balancing  one  thing  with  an- 
other, and  purchase  the  best  they  can  get. 

The  present  Duke  of  Wellington  recently  observed  of 
a  horse:—  "  A  great  many  faults  might  be  found  with  his 
hocks;  he  could  not  pass  an  examination.  But  I  do  not 
mind,  I  know  well  enough  he  is  a  good  wearer,  and  I 
will  give  you  a  cheque  for  him."  The  duke's  observa- 
tion proved  him  to  be  a  practical  horseman;  in  short,  a 
good  judge.  Horses  are  essentially  animals  for  use,  and 
although  the  whole  modern  system  of  breeding  and  train- 
ing tends  to  produce  animals  compactly  built  and  beauti- 
ful to  look  upon,  still  no  amount  of  training  will  conceal 
from  the  practised  eye  the  features  useful  or  useless  for 
the  purpose  in  view. 


THE  HORSE;  HOW  TO  BUY  AND  SELL. 


When  the  extensive  and  widely  ramified  trade  in  horses 
is  considered,  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  public  as  to 
the  laws  both  physical  and  civil,  relating  to  their  sound- 
ness or  unsoundness,  is  a  matter  of  surprise. 

Many  people  appear  to  think  that  such  knowledge  is 
confined  to  the  larger  dealers  and  proprietors,  so  that, 
when  a  private  individual — though  a  really  bad  judge  of 
horse-flesh—succeeds  in  selling,  most  innocently,  a  horse 
that  a  short  time  afterwards  becomes  lame,  he  immedi- 
ately acquires  the  reputation  of  being  "a  knowing  one" 
—  "a  deep  hand;"  etc. 

It  is  hoped  this  little  work  will  aid  in  protecting  both 
buyer  and  seller  from  useless  litigation.  It  will  be  my 
aim  both  to  free  the  Warranty  from  the  fallacious  security 
with  which  it  too  often  invests  the  purchaser,  and  to  re- 
move the  bugbear  terrors  that  surround  the  seller  and  too 
often  prevent  his  obtaining  a  proper  value  for  a  horse. 
From  not  knowing  the  extent  of  liabilities  incurred  by 
the  warranty,  he  is  led  from  motives  of  prudence,  to  de- 
cline warranting  even  horses  that  are  sound.  I  shall  also 
show  when  a  horse  should  not  be  rejected  because  he  is 
unsound,  and  why,  frequently,  a  sound  horse  should  be 
avoided. 

The  late  Professor  Coleman  used  to  say,  "any  devia- 
tion from  nature  is  an  unsoundness."  The  opinions  of 
most  writers,  since  his  time,  embrace  the  same  doctrine. 
To  differ  from  the  learned  professor  altogether  would 
be  presumptuous;  although,  I  think,  whilst  he  put  his 
11 


12  THE   HORSE. 

meaning  into  short  and  quaint  language  that  it  might 
be  easily  understood,  he  calculated  upon  its  receiving  a 
liberal  construction.  Still,  however,  the  professor  con- 
sidered the  above  definition  of  unsoundness  a  neat  and 
concise  explanation  of  a  difficult  subject. 

The  exceptions  may  not  be  very  numerous  with  regard 
to  strict  soundness,  but  there  may,  nevertheless,  be  many 
deviations  from  nature  which,  instead  of  impeding  the 
animal  functions,  are  of  great  service  in  adapting  domes- 
ticated animals  to  the  artificial  state  in  which  they  have 
to  live.  Let  us  take  an  illustration.  The  hands  of  the 
artisan  or  laborer,  rendered  coarse  and  hard  by  his  daily 
vocations,  must  be  considered  a  deviation  from  nature; 
but  a  man  with  delicate  hands,  who  occasionally  goes 
boating,  is  aware,  from  the  blisters  he  gets  on  his  hands, 
of  the  convenience  and  comfort  of  a  more  horny  texture 
of  skin. 

If  it  were  customary  for  people,  upon  being  taken  into 
any  kind  of  employment,  to  be  "warranted,"  could  a 
man  with  these  hard  hands  be  warranted  sound,  i.  e.,  in 
a  natural  state,  or  capable  of  doing  his  work  properly? 
Nevertheless,  though  deviating  from  nature,  the  horny 
hand  is  the  best  adapted  to  hard  work. 

If  the  hands  of  a  man  had  never  done  hard  manual 
labor,  but  had  always  been  employed  in  writing,  his  skin 
would  remain  unaltered,  thin,  and  tender,  and  he  would 
be  adjudged  sound,  in  consequence  of  his  not  deviating 
from  nature;  but  his  hands  must  undergo  an  alteration  of 
structure  before  he  could  earn  his  food  by  plowing  or 
digging.  It  is  not,  therefore,  the  training  alone,  but  the 
altered  structure  consequent  thereon,  that  is  required; 
yet  no  one  will  deny  that  the  adapted  structure  is  the 
most  valuable  for  performing  the  requisite  labor.  Devia- 
tions equally  slight  or  unimportant  should  not  vitiate  a 
warranty  in  horse-flesh.  Such  vitiation  is,  however,  often 
attempted,  leading  to  enormous  expense,  tedious  litiga- 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  13 

tion,  and  frequently  the  breaking-up  of  long-established 
friendships,  every  one  of  which  evils  might  be  easily  pre- 
vented by  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  subject  I 
would  elucidate.  The  works  on  the  soundness  and  un- 
soundness  of  horses  that  have  hitherto  come  under  my 
notice  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  compilations  or  refer- 
ences to  cases  that  have  been  litigated,  which  cases,  in- 
stead of  being  of  any  value  or  service  to  those  unac- 
quainted with  the  structure  and  habits  of  the  horse,  have 
only  served  to  mystify  them. 


WARRANTY. 

It  has  been  almost  universally  supposed  that  a  warranty 
extends  to  a  definite  period.  Some  imagine  that,  if  any- 
thing happens  to  render  a  horse  unsound  during  the  first 
month  after  purchase,  the  horse  can  be  returned.  Others 
extend  the  period,  and,  when  told  that  the  warranty  does 
not  go  forward,  but,  on  the  contrary,  back  from  the  time 
of  its  date,  want  to  know  the  use  of  such  a  document. 


USE    OF  WAKRANTY. 

The  following  are  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
the  possession  of  a  warranty.  Suppose  a  horse  should  be- 
come ill  or  diseased  within  such  a  reasonable  time  after 
purchase  as  to  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  ailment,  in  all 
probability,  had  been  caught  prior  to  the  sale  of  the  ani- 
mal, then  it  could  be  returned  as  unsound,  because  it  did 
not  fulfil  the  conditions  of  the  warranty  at  the  time  it 
was  given.  Or  suppose,  within  a  few  days  after  the  pur- 
chase has  been  made,  the  horse  becomes  lame,  and  it  is 
possible  to  prove  that  the  lameness  existed  prior  to  the 


14  THE    HORSE. 

change  of  ownership,  and  that  the  horse  had  not  been 
used,  as  is  generally  the  case  with  horses  of  his  class,  for 
six  weeks  after  his  cure,  then  the  animal  is  returnable.  A 
horse,  therefore,  that  is  turned  out  to  grass  after  having 
been  afflicted  with  lameness  (unless  it  can  be  proved  that 
he  has  been  out  for  a  very  considerable  period,  and  that 
he  has  been  sound  during  a  portion  of  that  time),  cannot 
properly  be  warranted  as  sound,  and  is  returnable  if  he 
becomes  unsound  in  the  part  affected  before. 

Provided  that  the  animal  had  been  properly  used  ac- 
cording to  his  class  and  condition,  and  that  no  lameness 
takes  place  within  a  month  after  he  commences  work, 
whether  in  the  service  of  his  new  or  his  late  owner,  the 
warranty  would  cease  at  the  end  of  a  month.  The  safest 
way,  therefore,  is  not  to  warrant  the  horse  until  he  has 
been  at  least  six  weeks  at  ordinary  work  after  a  perfect 
cure  has  been  effected. 

As  there  are  some  physicians  who  assert  that  nobody  is 
perfectly  sane,  and  that  every  one  is  insane  upon  one 
topic  or  another,  so  there  will  be  found  enlightened  vet- 
erinarians who  assert  that  there  are  no  sound  horses. 
Certainly  not,  if  they  have  ever  done  a  day's  work.  If  the 
slightest  deviation  from  the  state  in  which  the  colt  was, 
prior  to  beginning  work,  it  is  to  be  significant  of  un- 
soundness,  I  grant  that  with  used  horses  they  are  right. 
The  hard  condition  of  the  working  horse,  which  really  is 
the  cause  of  his  endurance,  is,  according  to  this  dictum, 
an  unsoundness ;  because  the  very  work  necessary  to  pro- 
duce this  desired  condition  will  in  most  cases  effect  some 
slight  alteration  of  structure. 

Nor  is  the  charge  of  the  veterinary  surgeon  respecting 
unsoundness  much  less  deserving  of  censure.  Horses 
were  made  for  the  use  of  man;  and  many  of  the  devia- 
tions from  nature  brought  on  by  that  use,  so  far  from 
causing  inconvenience  to  the  animal,  assist  him  in  the 
work  he  has  to  do.  Are  we  not  justified,  then,  in  at- 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  15 

tributing  certain  alterations  in  the  structure  of  animals  to 
the  goodness  of  nature,  rather  than  in  questioning  their 
soundness  when  such  alteration,  instead  of  being  detri- 
mental, is  for  their  benefit? 

Taking  substantially,  however,  Professor  Coleman's 
comprehensive  definition  of  warranty  for  my  text,  I  will 
proceed  to  give  a  list  of  the  most  usual  causes  for  reject- 
ing warranted  horses;  distinguishing  those  marks  or  pecu- 
liarities which  are  really  only  blemishes  from  those  which 
do  render  the  animal  unsound;  and,  to  make  the  work  as 
complete  as  possible,  I  will  endeavor  to  make  clear  the 
vices  of  the  horse,  with  their  attendant  consequences. 


EXAMINATION. 

On  the  horse  being  led  out  of  the  stable,  it  is  usual  to 
walk  up  to  his  withers  to  ascertain  if  he  is  of  the  required 
height,  as  there  is  generally  a  difference  between  the  ap- 
parent measure  in  the  stable  and  that  taken  out  of  doors, 
arising  from  the  want  of  level  in  the  stall. 

Next,  you  should  stand  before  the  middle  of  the  chest, 
to  see  whether  there  is  any  difference  in  the  size  of  the 
two  fore-feet. 


THE     FEET. 

CONTRACTION. 

Contractions,  whether  arising  from  original  malforma- 
tion or  from  subsequent  lameness,  are  by  many  pro- 
nounced unsound.  Others  admit,  where  no  inconven- 
ience arises  from  a  naturally  small  foot,  that  it  does  not 
constitute  an  unsoundness.  Why  should  feet  naturally 


16  THE   HOKSE. 

small  or  narrow  at  the  heels,  caused  by  being  reared  on 
high,  dry,  or  hard  soil,  be  pronounced  unsound? 

Nature  has  made  the  small  foot  as  perfect  as  the  larger 
one.  The  inside,  or  sensitive  foot,  is  not  too  large  for 
the  horny  case,  nor  has  it  with  difficulty  been  squeezed 
into  the  case;  but  the  hard,  horny  case  fits  the  inside  with 
perfect  ease.  Where  contraction  is  the  cause  of  lameness, 
it  usually  arises  from  changing  a  natural  state  of  living  to 
one  that  is  artificial.  The  heat  or  dryness  of  the  stable 
is  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  contraction,  as  it  aggra- 
vates the  inflammation  produced  by  work  and  by  the 
stimulating  nature  of  the  food. 

Reason,  therefore,  would  suggest  that  the  horse  reared 
in  the  softest  and  wettest  ground,  and  having  the  largest- 
sized  foot,  would  be  most  likely  to  receive  injury  from 
the  change;  and  so  it  has  proved  in  innumerable  cases. 
Great  attention  and  care  may  keep  such  feet  moderately 
sound  for  a  short  time;  but  they  become  crippled  almost 
as  soon  as  they  are  worked.  Not  so  with  the  naturally 
smaller  but  harder  hoof,  which  has  been  accustomed  to 
something  nearer  to  the  stable  dryness;  it  is  not,  there- 
fore, from  this  cause,  so  soon  inflamed.  Horses  with 
small  hard  feet  have  less  fatty  membrane  to  carry,  having 
generally  been  reared  on  hard  dry  grounds.  Food  not  be- 
ing so  plentiful  in  these  situations  as  on  the  moist,  soft, 
and  fertile  plains,  they  have  had  to  travel  farther  for  it; 
deriving  much  good  from  the  exercise  thereby  induced, 
and  especially  from  the  dry  and  bracing  air  of  more  hilly 
regions.  Horses  whose  hoofs  are  naturally  small  and 
hard  are,  therefore,  better  prepared  in  every  way  for  the 
treatment  they  have  to  undergo  in  their  apprenticeship 
to  work.  They  have  less  useless  weight  of  their  own  to 
carry;  they  are  already  accustomed  to  hard  dry  ground, 
and  to  more  violent  exercise.  Horses  with  small  hoofs  are 
more  moderate  in  their  action:  their  feet  are  not  subject 
to  violent  inflammation.  When  inflammation  does  take 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  17 

place,  it  is  usually  slow,  and  some  time  elapses  before  it 
produces  lameness;  with  a  little  care  they  are  generally 
kept  in  health,  and  must  be  pronounced  to  be  SOUND. 


OPEN  HOOFS. 

The  larger-footed  horse  has  more  useless  weight  of  his 
own,  not  only  from  having  been  accustomed  to  wet,  low 
situations,  but  also  from  having  had,  when  young,  a 
greater  abundance  of  food.  From  having  had  less  exer- 
cise, and  from  the  heavy  atmosphere  having  induced 
quiet,  the  horn  of  his  hoof  has  become  thin,  soft,  and 
weak.  The  action  of  this  class  of  horse  is  high,  which 
is  peculiarly  bad  for  the  shape  of  his  feet.  This  habit 
has  been  partly  acquired  through  his  having  been  obliged 
in  marshy  situations  to  clear  his  feet  from  the  soil;  but 
in  some  horses  bred  on  plains  it  arises  from  the  position 
of  the  shoulder. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  every  one,  that  bringing  these 
horses  into  dry  stables,  and  making  them  work  upon 
hard  and  dry  ground,  aggravated  by  their  high  action,  does 
a  greater  violence  to  them  than  to  the  small-footed  animal; 
and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  a  very  little  work  pro- 
duces serious  inflammation,  pumice-sole,  and  sometimes 
perpetual  lameness. 

These  diseases  are  not  merely  the  result  of  neglect; 
they  are  induced  by  putting  the  horse  to  a  kind  of  work 
for  which  he  is  totally  unfitted. 

The  large-hoofed  horse,  certainly  in  his  earlier  years, 
should  be  put  to  moderate  if  not  slow  work,  with  as  little 
weight  upon  his  back  as  possible. 


FLAT    FOOT. 

Where  the  sole  of  the  foot  is  large  and  flat,  and  slightly 
convex,  and  where  the  heels  are  open,  it  is  often  mis- 


18  THE   HORSE. 

taken  for  a  good  open  foot,  even  though  the  horny  cover- 
ing is  too  thin  and  soft.  Such  a  foot  will  not  stand 
much  work;  but  if  its  peculiarities  are  not  the  result  ot 
disease,  the  foot  may  be  considered  SOUND. 


PERFECT   FOOT. 

The  intermediate  foot,  that  is,  a  foot  between  the  con- 
tracted and  open  one,  may  be  deemed  perfection;  but,  as 
this  degree  of  excellence  is  rarely  met  with,  we  must  be 
satisfied  with  that  which  is  the  nearest  approach  to  it. 


PUMICE  SOLE. 

If  the  sole  of  the  foot  is  in  the  slightest  degree  convex, 
or  lower  at  the  middle  than  at  the  sides,  it  may  be 
inferred  that  the  horse  has  had  inflammation  of  the  foot, 
which  has  divided  some  of  the"  laminae  that  attach  the 
inner  foot  to  the  horny  covering.  These  laminae,  which 
are  one  thousand  in  number,  in  the  healthy  foot  support 
the  entire  weight  of  the  horse,  as  it  were,  on  springs, 
instead  of  letting  it  rest  on  the  sole  alone.  In  the  early 
stage  of  inflammation  but  few  of  these  laminae  are  injured. 
The  presence  of  pumice-sole  stamps  the  horse  as 

UNSOUND. 


THE    KNEES. 

Upon  the  spotless  purity  of  the  knees  too  much  stress 
is  often  laid,  but  security  alone  is  the  object  to  be  con- 
sidered. A  properly-formed  horse,  with  his  fore  and 
hind  quarters  proportioned  to  each  other,  and  his 
action  straight  and  true,  will  not  fall,  except  from  over 
fatigue.  Here  do  not  deceive  yourself,  but  take  care, 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  19 

that  in  proportion  to  the  beauty  or  length  of  the  hind 
quarters  be  also  the  obliquity  or  slanting  of  the  shoulder- 
blades.  The  wither  has  nothing  to  do  with  this — so  far 
as  regards  thinness,  height,  and  other  fancies — but  it  is 
best  when  thick  at  the  lower  part  next  the  back.  A 
horse  thus  chosen,  with  broken  knees,  unless  the  tendon 
is  injured,  is  safer  and  better,  if  he  has  decent  hind 
quarters,  than  one  having  upright  shoulders,  high  withers, 
and  all  the  popular  requisites,  even  with  the  most 
immaculately-covered  knees.  Depend  upon  it  he  will 
have  broken  knees  before  he  is  eight  years  old.  If  he 
escapes  it  till  then,  it  is  a  clear  proof  that  he  has  never 
been  tried;  for  the  first  time  he  is  so,  down  he  will  be 
sure  to  drop. 

When  your  chief  desire  is  that  your  horse  should  not 
fall,  care  less  about  the  length  and  beauty  of  the  hind 
quarters  than  the  proper  form  of  the  fore  ones,  unless 
price  is  no  object,  when  you  may  have  the  nearer  approx- 
imation to  perfection.  Upright  shoulders  are-  not  of 
much  consequence  in  harness,  as  the  weight  of  draught 
assists  the  balance. 

The  mere  cutting  of  the  skin,  without  further  injury, 
does  not  render  the  horse  weaker  on  his  legs  than  he  was 
before  the  accident.  You  may  be  assured  that  he  was  as 
frightened  at  falling  as  his  rider;  and  the  only  mischief 
he  has  .done  is  in  having  decreased,  not  his  working,  but 
his  market,  price. 


%  BROKEN     KNEES. 

Should  the  horse  at  any  time  have  been  wounded  by 
falling,  the  injury  he  has  sustained  is  to  be  taken  into 
consideration. 

If  he  has  been  down  at  all,  even  though  the  skin  has 
not  been  broken,  there  will  always  remain  a  scurf  under 
the  hair,  which,  to  the  practised  eye,  is  easily  perceptible. 


20  THE   HORSE. 

Where  this  is  all  the  damage  he  has  sustained,  he  is 
neither  unsound  nor  blemished. 

Where  there  is  an  obvious  scar  from  a  cut  of  the  skin, 
it  is  evidence  of  a  broken  knee,  let  the  accident  have 
occurred  when  or  how  it  may;  never  heed  the  excuses 
offered,  take  it  for  granted  that  it  was  done  against  the 
animal's  will,  by  coming  in  contact  with  the  ground. 
This  state  of  broken  knee  is  sound,  and  the  mark  a 
blemish  only,  provided  it  is  healed  over  and  the  skin 
formed.  Prior  to  this  state  of  perfect  cure,  from  the 
time  of  the  accident  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

Should  the  injury,  however,  have  been  sufficient  to 
divide-  the  extensor  tendon,  or  otherwise  impede  or  alter 
the  action  of  the  animal,  although  the  part  is  healed 
over,  he  is 


SWOLLEN   KNEES. 

Another  case  of  injured,  though  not  always  broken, 
knees,  may  as  well  be  mentioned;  that  is,  where  they  are 
swollen:  the  horse  is  then  UNSOUND. 

Where  they  are  of  a  wenny,  or  capped,  or  callous 
nature,  neither  increasing  nor  diminishing,  nor  requir- 
ing extra  care,  and  the  action  or  work  of  the  horse  is  not 
interfered  with,  the  horse  is  ^OUND. 

But,  if  the  wenny,  capped,  or  callous  feature  is  very 
conspicuous,  it  is  a  blemish,  and,  where  it  interferes  with 
the  action  or  work,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 


THE  EYES. 

The  eyes  require  a  very  careful  examination,  as  on 
their  proper  action  our  safety  and  comfort  in  the  use  of 
the  animal  mainly  depend. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  21 

A  horse  with  perfect  eyes  never  shies,  unless  from 
mismanagement  and  savage  cruelty;  and  even  then  he 
may  be  cured.  He  may  look  at  various  objects,  and, 
when  fresh  from  want  of  exercise,  he  is  likely  enough  to 
play  and  frisk  on  observing  different  things,  particularly 
such  things  as  pass  him  quickly;  but  he  may,  neverthe- 
less, be  perfectly  free  from  vice. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  good  light  should  be 
obtained,  in  order  to  inspect  the  eyes,  and  care  should  be 
taken  that  the  animal  be  kept  quiet  for  a  sufficient 
time  to  enable  you  to  observe  these  organs  narrowly 
and  collectedly.  The  light  best  suited  for  this 
purpose  is  that  which  comes  from  above,  and  above  only, 
like  that  which  proceeds  from  a  lantern  roof,  as  in  picture- 
galleries  and  in  some  riding- schools.  The  next  best 
light  comes  from  the  skylight  common  in.  the  latter,  or  in 
a  covered  ride  with  a  light  above.  Having  placed  the 
horse  immediately  under  the  light,  you  will  be  able  to 
see  and  examine  every  defect  as  clearly  as  though  you 
were  looking  at  a  piece  of  crystal.  The  best  position 
one  can  generally  adopt  is  to  put  his  head  in  the  stable- 
door,  placing  yourself  in  the  shade,  inside  the  stable,  and 
looking  through  one  of  the  eyes  with  great  care,  towards 
the  light.  When  satisfied  with  the  inspection,  proceed  with 
equal  deliberation  and  pains  to  examine  the  other  eye. 
Now  stand  opposite  the  animal's  face,  and  examine  both 
eyes  well,  by  looking  through  them  towards  the  stable  or 
shade.  It  does  not  always  follow  that,  because  one  eye 
is  perfect,  the  other  may  not  be  tainted,  although  this 
may  not  be  obvious  at  the  moment. 

Any  disease  in  the  eye,  even  from  the  slightest  cold  or 
inflammation,  until  it  be  completely  cured,  or  until  it 
has  terminated  in  total  blindness,  stamps  the  animal  as 

UKSOUXD. 

All  eyes  predisposed  to  inflammation,  although  not 
actually  affected  by  this  complaint  at  the  time  of  the 


22  THE   HORSE. 

warranty  being  drawn  up,  must  be  considered  to  stamp 
the  horse  as  UKSOUND. 

Where  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  all  tendency  to 
inflammation  in  these  organs  has  ceased,  whether  from 
the  animal's  age  or  otherwise,  if  there  are  any  marks  of 
injury  remaining — as  is  mostly  the  case — from  the  small- 
est cataract,  not  larger  than  a  needle's  point;  or  if  there 
is  the  slightest  dilatation  of  the  pupil,  the  horse  is 

UNSOUKD. 

In  other  words,  a  horse  with  either  eye  not  actually 
perfect  is,  if  not  blind,  unsound. 


TOTAL   BLINDNESS. 

If  the  animal  is  totally  blind,  either  with  one  or  both 
eyes,  then  there  is  no  danger  accompanying  his  use 
beyond  what  can  be  easily  calculated  upon;  and  if  he  is 
capable  of  doing  the  same  work  as  other  horses  of  his 
class  similarly  afflicted,  he  may  be  warranted  sound, 
ranking  only  as  BLEMISHED. 


THE    MOUTH. 

The  age  of  the  horse  may  be  ascertained  by  examining 
the  teeth  and  general  appearance  of  the  mouth.  Taking 
it  for  granted  that  the  reader  will  be  acquainted  with  the 
peculiar  structural  marks,  as  reference  can  easily  be 
made  to  plates  on  the  subject,  it  only  remains  for  me  to 
state,  that,  by  careful  study  and  proper  opportunity,  one 
may  learn  to  ascertain  the  age  of  the  horse  with  tolerable 
accuracy,  until  the  animal  has  turned  his  twentieth  year. 
This  is  allowed  by  those  who  have  had  the  opportunity 
and  wish  to  ascertain  the  truth;  but  it  is  the  interest  of 
many  to  keep  up  the  vulgar  error  that  beyond  the  age  of 
eight  the  horse's  age  cannot  be  calculated  with  any  cer- 


HOW   TO   BUY    A^D   SELL.  23 

tainty.     It  is  for  this  reason  no  one  lias  a  horse  more 
than  eight  years  old  for  sale! 


CONTRACTED  FEET. 

Having  already  considered  the  general  formation  of 
the  feet,  we  now  take  up  the  near  fore  one,  to  see 
whether  it  is  in  any  way  diseased,  or  whether  there  are 
symptoms  of  its  having  formerly  been  so. 

To  describe  what  should  be  the  width  of  heel,  and 
other  peculiarities  which  form  a  perfect  foot  for  each 
horse,  would  be  indeed  superfluous;  such  knowledge  can 
be  acquired  only  by  study  and  practice.  To  point  out 
the  result  of  each  defect  when  ascertained,  so  that  the 
initiated  may  judge  for  themselves,  is  all  that  can  be  at- 
tempted. The  thorough  horesman  is  the  only  one  who 
will  appreciate  more  elaborate  description.  This  asser- 
tion may  perhaps  appear  over-confident;  but,  if  blame 
attach  to  it,  I  hope  those  who  have  urged  me  on  will 
lighten  the  burden.  Thorough  horsemen  are  compara- 
tively few,  but  the  incompetent  are  numerous.  This 
work,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  be  the  means  of  adding  to 
the  former  by  decreasing  the  latter. 

It  is  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  contraction  of  the 
foot  renders  the  horse  unsound  or  not.  All  will  agree, 
where  the  climate  is  exceedingly  hot  and  the  horse  goes 
sound,  that  this  is  a  much  better  wearing  foot,  and  more 
likely  to  keep  free  from  lameness  than  the  expanded  soft 
hoof,  which,  from  being  wide,  and  predisposed  in  the  sole 
to  concavity,  is,  par  excellence,  pronounced  sound;  yet, 
in  fact,  while  the  narrow  foot  will  stand  equally  well  on 
wet,  and  on  hard  dry  soil,  on  the  latter  the  wide-spread 
flat  foot  will  quickly  give  way  on  account  of  its  proneness 
+o  injury  from  its  softness. 


24  THE   HORSE. 

As  feet  of  this  description  are  adapted  only  for  the 
work  such  horses  are  required  to  perform  in  their  native 
country,  it  may  perhaps  be  right  enough  to  call  them 
sound,  prior  to  receiving  injury.  It  is  for  the  buyer  to 
judge  whether  or  not  they  are  adapted  to  the  work  he 
requires. 

Still,  why  this  weakly  foot  should  be  allowed  to  pass 
as  sound,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  other,  I  have  always 
been  at  a  loss  to  know.  The  colt  foaled  with  certain 
sized  feet — the  effect  of  the  soil  on  which  it  was  bred — 
although  it  has  never  been  afflicted  with  lameness  or  dis- 
ease of  any  kind,  is  said  to  have  contracted  feet,  and  is 
condemned  as  unsound,  because  it  is  imagined  that  its 
hoofs  are  narrower  than  Fancy's  prescribed  limits.  ' (  He 
is  unsound,"  says  one;  "lam  doubtful,"  says  another, 
"  whether,  according  to  law,  it  is  unsoundness;  he  seems 
to  go  very  well  at  present.  He  might  have  been  better 
had  they  been  a  little  more  open." 

Why  should  this  be?  In  the  human  being,  not  only 
in  different  nations,  but  in  the  same  country,  we  see  peo- 
ple with  leet  of  various  sizes,  but  they  are  all  equally 
capable  of  walking  and  of  common  exertion.  I  never 
knew  a  fast  runner  or  a  great  walker  amongst  bipeds 
who  had  an  extremely  large  foot;  on  the  contrary,  the 
feet  of  pedestrians,  properly  so  called,  are  mostly,  if 
not  of  the  moderate  size,  rather  under  it.  "  Yes,"  some 
will  say,  "  but  the  human  foot  is  not  confined  within  a 
box  of  horn,  capable  of  yielding  but  slightly."  Most 
true;  but  nature  fits  the  horn  to  the  foot,  and  not  the 
foot  to  the  horn. 

Horses,  therefore,  which  have  naturally  small  feet,  but 
not  so  small  as  to  cause  them  inconvenience,  may  with- 
out doubt  be  pronounced  SOUND. 

Should  the  various  reasons  stated  in  this  and  previous 
articles  not  be  convincing,  I  may  say  that  some  of  the 
best  veterinary  surgeons  are  of  opinion  that,  where 


HOW  TO  BUY   AND   SELL.  25 

contraction  is  not  attended  by  inconvenience  to  the  ani- 
mal, it  ought  not  to  be  deemed  an  unsoundness,  although 
in  England  it  was  legally  decided  as  such  many  years 
ago.  Some  persons,  however,  pronounce  it  consistent 
with  soundness,  in  spite  of  that  decision.  Professor 
Coleman  once  remarked,  that  he  "cared  not  what  had 
been  decided,  no  jury,  after  such  evidence  as  would  now 
be  brought  into  court,  could  decide  in  favor  of  so  absurd 
a  law." 

The  statutes  respecting  soundness  have  altered,  and 
must  continue  to  be  altered,  with  the  advance  of  time  and 
improved  veterinary  knowledge.  In  Xenophon's  time, 
when  horses  were  not  shod,  the  hardest  hoof  was  consid- 
ered the  best  and  soundest,  because  it  wore  the  longest, 
although  it  was  upright  and  contracted.  When  instruct- 
ing his  soldiers  how  to  choose  horses,  he  describes  these 
feet;  but  at  the  same  time  shows  that  he  was  aware  of 
the  evils  of  contraction  brought  on  by  disease,  and  he 
gives  directions  how  it  may  be  avoided.  I  shall  here 
only  add  that  extreme '  developments  are  as  bad  as  mal- 
formations produced  by  disease  or  work. 


AETIFICIAL   CONTRACTION. 

Artificial  contraction,  which  must  most  always  be  the 
result  of  disease,  let  the  disease  arise  from  bad  manage- 
ment, bad  shoeing,  neglect,  or  whatever  cause,  may  bring 
on  inflammation.  The  horny  sole  will  not  contract  upon 
its  contents,  until  either  in  action,  or  in  the  stable,  the 
horse  ceases  to  rest  some  of  his  weight  upon  his  heels. 
This  resting  contracts  the  internal  foot;  the  heat  con- 
tracts the  horn  to  it,  and  alters  the  secretion,  so  that  the 
horn  either  gets  thicker  and  stronger,  or  so  thin  and  ten- 
der as  to  become  what  is  called  a  shelly  hoof.  This  shows 
that  naturally  small  and  narrow  feet  are  very  different 


26  THE   HORSE. 

from  artificial  contraction,  which  can  be  cured  only  at 
the  earliest  stage  of  the  disease.  It  may  subsequently  be 
sometimes  relieved;  but  rarely,  after  an  inflammation  of 
a  few  weeks'  standing,  without  a  powerful  remedy  being 
applied,  will  there  be  so  decided  a  cure  effected  as  that 
the  horse  may  be  pronounced  sound.  If  the  contraction 
arose  from  a  disease  that  had  been  cured,  and  the  horse 
had  been  doing  the  work  of  horses  of  his  class  for  six 
weeks  without  inconvenience  or  extraordinary  care,  then 
he  is  SOUND. 

Lameness  from  contraction  is  preferable  to  the  lame- 
ness consequent  upon  convex  or  pumice  sole;  the  latter 
unfitting  the  horse  for  any  but  slow  or  moderate  work. 

In  order  that  I  may  not  be  misunderstood  in  treating 
of  artificial  contraction,  I  should  mention  the  exception 
to  the  rule,  though  I  do  not  think  that  contraction  which 
conies  on  gradually,  and  without  an  injury  from  a  second- 
ary natural  cause,  should  be  considered  artificial.  For 
instance,  if  from  want  of  exercise  the  frog  receives  no 
pressure,  the  inside  of  the  foot  has  less  work  to  perform, 
and  gradually  shrinks  or  wastes,  and  the  horn  contracts. 
When  this  takes  place  gradually,  without  inflammation, 
and  without  causing  lameness  or  inconvenience,  the  horse 
is  SOUND. 


COKNS. 

Corns  are  an  unsoundness.  They  are  mostly  on  the 
inside  heel,  looking  like  a  bruise  or  extravasated  blood. 
They  are  more  or  less  troublesome,  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  foot.  In  the  low-heeled,  thin,  and  brittle 
hoof,  they  are  the  worst  and  most  troublesome;  in  the 
stronger  hoof  they  are  of  less  consequence;  provided  they 
are  not  soft  corns  or  others  of  a  serious  character,  and 
if  the  horse  is  a  very  superior  animal,  with  good  hoofs, 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  27 

going  sound  at  the  time,  I  should  not  reject  him  for  my 
own  use.  Where  the  feet  are  otherwise  good,  with  care 
and  proper  shoeing  corns  are  soon  cured.  I  would  give 
the  owner  a  short  time  to  try  and  cure  soft  corns  if  the 
horse  is  otherwise  sufficiently  good.  While  a  corn  of 
any  kind  exists,  the  animal  is  UNSOUND. 

Corns  may  be  produced  in  so  short  a  period,  that, 
should  you  discover  them  immediately  after  purchase, 
you  cannot  return  the  horse,  unless  you  can  prove  they 
existed  prior  to  purchase. 

If  any  reader  of  this,  with  feet  most  tender  from  bad 
corns,  is  wincing  away  in  tight  boots,  he  should  be  in- 
formed that  there  is  no  analogy  between  human  corns 
and  those  of  horses.  The  corn  of  the  horse  is  a  bruise 
similar  to  that  caused  by  pinching  up  a  piece  of  the  skin, 
so  as  to  leave  the  blood  underneath,  and  which,  previous 
to  going  away,  assumes  a  black  appearance.  In  the  horse 
it  is  best  to  cut  them  out,  and  keep  off  the  pressure  till 
thoroughly  recovered.  Soft  corns  are  the  least  common 
with  horses,  and  are  nearer  akin  to  those  of  the  human 
being.  Animals  afflicted  in  this  way  are  UNSOUND. 


SAND-CKACK. 

This  is  a  crack  or  fissure  mostly  situate  in  the  inside 
quarter  of  the  forefoot,  beginning  just  below  the  coronet, 
between  hair  and  hoof,  and  passing  down  towards  the  bot- 
tom of  the  foot.  Attention  should  be  paid  to  this  the 
moment  it  is  discovered,  when  the  requisite  treatment 
and  two  or  three  days'  rest  will  enable  the  horse  to  go 
sound  in  his  work.  In  a  few  days  the  bandages  may  be 
taken  off.  The  horse  will  most  probably  remain  free 
from  sand -crack  till  about  the  same  time  in  the  following 
year,  when,  unless  strict  attention  is  paid  to  it,  he  may 


28  THE   HOUSE. 

throw  another.  While  the  sand-crack  is  in  existence  the 
animal  is  UNSOUND. 

When  cured,  he  may  be  warranted  as  sound;  but  so 
long  as  the  heof  is  unsightly  from  the  cure,  it  is  a  tem- 
porary BLEMISH. 

Where  any  marks  of  the  sand-crack  still  remain  at  the 
time  of  the  warranty  being  taken,  in  order  to  render  the 
seller  more  secure,  it  would  be  advisable  to  make  this  dis- 
ease an  exception. 

The  horse  is  not  returnable  if  one  or  more  of  these  fis- 
sures appear  immediately  after  he  becomes  the  property 
of  the  purchaser,  because  he  is  considered  SOUKD  until 
they  are  formed.  Dry,  brittle,  thin  hoofs  are  the  most 
subject  to  this  disease,  particularly  where  the  action  is 
high  and  the  weather  dry  and  sharp.  Attention,  with 
slight  stimulants,  will  do  much  to  strengthen  these  hoofs, 
and  render  them  less  subject  to  cracks.  Should  these 
cracks  be  neglected  till  sand  and  dirt  find  their  way 
through  the  fissures,  they  become  troublesome  to  heal, 
and  are  frequently  the  cause  of  permanent  lameness. 


FALSE   QUAETEE. 

False  quarter  is  a  horizontal  fissure  in  the  inside  quarter 
of  the  hoof.  What  has  been  said  of  sand-crack,  applies 
in  a  great  measure  to  this  also.  Till  a  cure  is  effected,  the 
horse  is  UNSOUND. 

Thin,  weak  hoofs  are  most  subject  to  this,  though 
treading  with  one  foot  upon  the  other  will  produce  it  in 
any  feet.  If  the  horse  goes  sound,  and  does  not  require 
particular  treatment,  he  may  be  warranted  as  such.  While 
any  mark  remains,  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  blemish;  but 
a  blemish  arising  from  a  tread  or  accident  on  a  good  hoof 
will  probably  not  appear. 


HOW   TO   BUT  AND 

THEUSHES. 

Thrushes  are  situated  in  the  frogs  of 
ing  them  ragged,  and  causing  a  fetid  moisture  to  exude. 
Unless  bad,  and  of  old  standing,  they  are  not  an  un- 
soundness,  and  are  readily  cured  in  twenty-four  hours;  yet, 
as  they  constitute  disease,  and  are  deviations  from  the 
general  rule  of  health,  as  implied  in  a  warranty,  and 
therefore  open  to  dispute,  I  will  endeavor  to  make  you 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  subject  to  form  an  opin- 
ion for  yourself,  while  giving  the  reasons  for  altering  the 
rule. 

The  frogs  are  evidently  intended  to  relieve  the  other 
portions  of  the  foot  from  some  of  the  weight  of  the  horse. 
Besides  the  interior  structure  proving  this,  no  stronger 
evidence  of  this  use  of  the  frogs  can  be  adduced  than  that 
want  of  pressure  will  of  itself  produce  thrushes,  and  that, 
when  the  foot  is  not  too  far  gone  (fleshy),  gentle  pressure 
greatly  assists  a  cure.  Stopping  the  feet  improperly  with 
dung,  and  allowing  it  to  remain  too  long  in  the  hoofs, 
will  also  produce  them.  The  best  preventive  is  pressure 
and  cleanliness;  for,  when  the  frogs  become  a  little  rag- 
ged, loose  sand,  dirt,  or  small  gravel  insinuating  itself 
into  the  place  affected  will  ultimately  cause  a  running  and 
tenderness;  and  where  thrushes  are  already  formed,  the 
greatest  attention  to  cleanliness  is  required.  Proper  care 
and  attention,  however,  will  effect  a  cure  in  a  few  hours. 
Until  the  frogs  become  bad  or  troublesome,  or  the  heels 
become  tender  or  fleshy,  they  should  not  be  considered  an 
unsoundness;  but  when  the  original  structure  of  the  frog 
has  become  so  altered  as  to  be  perpetually  tender,  render- 
ing the  horse  liable  to  drop  at  every  step,  he  is  then  un- 
questionably UNSOUND. 

One  reason  why  slight  thrushes  should  be  considered  as 
not  rendering  the  horse  unsound  is,  that  they  are  of  lit- 
tle consequence,  and  easily  cured;  another  reason  is,  that 


30  THE   HOKSE. 

slight  thrushes  may  be  produced  in  twelve  hours  in  the 
most  healthy  feet,  that  is,  the  frog  may  be  made  to  pro- 
duce a  moist  secretion  in  that  time.  No  one,  therefore, 
would  be  justified  in  giving  a  warranty  were  slight 
thrushes  to  be  regarded  as  an  unsoundness,  as  any  one  not 
pleased  with  his  bargain  would  only  have  to  produce 
them  to  be  almost  certain  of  success  in  an  action  against 
the  seller.  This  is,  therefore,  allowed  to  be  one  of  the 
deviations  from  the  general  rule — that  any  alteration  of 
structure  renders  the  horse  unsound. 

In  cases  where  thrushes,  however  slight,  are  known  to 
exist,  the  best  and  most  secure  way  is,  to  warrant  with 
this  exception;  as  a  litigious  buyer  might,  if  he  did  not 
like  the  horse  in  other  respects,  make  this  a  plea  for  going 
into  court  to  see  whether  he  could  not  return  his  bargain, 
by  making  the  existence  of  the  disease  a  matter  of  im- 
portance. He  would  not  gain  his  point,  but  the  vexation 
and  annoyance  are  better  avoided. 

Where  thrushes  are  the  result  of  severe  contraction,  this 
state  of  contraction  is  an  UNSOUNDNESS. 

To  stop  thrushes,  when  to  a  certain  extent  they  are  an- 
swering the  purpose  of  setons,  provokes  more  active  in- 
flammation. In  the  contracted  foot,  more  especially,  they 
should  have  their  course,  until  they  have  arrived  at  a  cer- 
tain state.  Then  they  should  be  stopped,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent worse  diseases;  they  must,  however,  be  dried  gradu- 
ally and  with  caution,  and  then  the  horse  will  most  prob- 
ably be  SOUND. 


BAE  SHOES. 

Wherever  bar  or  round  shoes  are  required,  even  though 
for* a  temporary  purpose,  the  horse  is  unsound;  for  no 
disease  is  cured,  whether  sand-cracks,  corns,  thrushes,  or 
whatever  else  it  may  be,  so  long  as  these  are  necessary. 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND  SELL.  31 

LEATHEE   SOLES. 

What  has  been  said  of  bar  shoes  applies  equally  to 
leather  soles  also;  for,  where  it  is  necessary  to  use  these  to 
enable  the  horse  to  perform  his  work  safely  or  properly, 
as  he  requires  extra  care,  the  horse  is  not  sound,  let  the 
cause  be  what  it  may. 

No  one  will  dispute  that  leather  soles  are  of  great  good, 
enabling  many  a  horse  to  work  soundly  that  otherwise 
would  be  in  great  pain.  They  are  much  safer  than  bar 
shoes,  where  they  answer  the  purpose,  as  the  horse  has  a 
better  hold  of  the  ground.  They  are  also  less  likely  to 
produce  thrushes  or  waste  the  frogs.  For  some  feet, 
gutta-percha  is  better  adapted  than  leather,  on  account  of 
its  being  harder,  and  less  yielding  to  sharp  stones,  partic- 
ularly in  wet  weather.  It  is  not  so  well,  however,  when 
the  sole  is  not  to  be  covered,  except  in  the  case  of  corns. 


RING  BONES. 

Eing  bones  are  situate  above  the  hoof,  being  an  ossifi- 
cation of  the  cartilages  at  the  top  of  the  coronet.  If  seen 
only  in  front  of  the  pastern,  whence  the  disease  generally 
extends  itself  round  the  front  of  the  hoof,  in  form  of  a 
ring,  it  is  frequently  of  little  consequence;  but  where  it 
approaches  the  heels,  the  horse  is  fit  for  slow  work  only, 
the  flexibility  of  the  cartilage  by  its  altered  structure  be- 
ing lost.  The  cartilage  is  likely  to  be  fractured  by  the 
ascent  of  the  internal  structure  of  the  hoof  on  any  ex- 
treme pressure  being  given  to  the  frogs,  either  from  ac- 
celerated speed  or  from  treading  on  a  stone.  At  slow 
work  horses  with  these  hoofs  often  last  for  years  without 
accident,  but  when  they  do  fracture  the  ossified  part,  they 
should  be  at  once  destroyed,  or  turned  out  till  the  frac- 
ture is  united,  in  which  case,  though  not  sound,  they 


32  THE   HORSE. 

often  go  apparently  soundly,  though  they  are  ever  after- 
wards liable  to  accidents.  When  this  cure  occurs  they 
do  not  move  in  pain,  but  are  still  UNSOUND. 

Where  the  disorganization  is  only  in  front  of  the  pas- 
tern bone,  and  not  in  the  way  of  any  joint,  or  approach- 
ing the  heels,  all  inflammation  or  disease  has  disappeared. 
The  animal  will  suffer  no  inconvenience  from  quick  work, 
and  is  therefore  sound,  but  shows  a  BLEMISH. 


CANKER. 


Thrushes  neglected  will  turn  to  canker.  This  disease 
in  the  hoof  is  easily  detected,  and  is  very  troublesome  to 
cure.  A  cankered  horse  is  UNSOUND. 


WINDGALLS. 

Wind  galls  are  situate  at  the  bottom  of  the  cannon 
bone  on  each  side  of  the  leg,  just  above  the  pastern  joint, 
at  the  union  of  these  two  bones.  They  yield  to  pressure. 
They  appear  to  the  eye  like  small  enlargements,  and  feel 
soft  to  the  hand  when  it  is  passed  over  them.  They  are 
not  an  UNSOUNDNESS  in  themselves,  unless,  as  in  rare 
instances  and  very  extreme  cases,  they  occasion  lameness. 

They  are  a  proof  that  the  horse  has  done  work,  their 
size  depending  upon  the  age  at  which  this  work  was  done, 
and  the  neglect  the  horse  was  subjected  to  at  the  time. 

Unless  they  are  of  the  worst  kind  (the  largest  size), 
I  never  would  reject  a  superior  horse  for  windgalls. 
They  are  no  inconvenience  to  him,  and  are  not  an  unsound- 
ness,  becoming  less  and  less  as  the  work  is  decreased 
till  they  disappear  altogether;  they  are  never  seen  in  very 
old  and  fairly- worked  horses.  With  the  exception  of  the 
above-mentioned  case,  horses  having  windgalls  are  SOUND. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  33 

BANDAGES. 

Where  the  constant  use  of  bandages  is  required  to 
enable  a  horse  to  perform  the  ordinary  work  of  horses  of 
his  class,  he  is  UNSOUND. 

Bandages  are  good  things  properly  applied,  and  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  humanity  in  their  seasonable  appropria- 
tion and  right  use.  You  should  remember,  however, 
that  there  may  also  be  "too  much  of  a  good  thing,"  and 
that  by  over  doing  the  thing,  or  bandaging  improperly, 
you  defeat  your  own  purpose. 

Why  is  the  hair  on  that  horse's  legs  so  curled?  I  can 
never  see  it  without  pitying  the  poor  brute,  and  thinking 
of  the  purgatory  he  has  endured,  through  the  ignorance 
of  the  groom — ignorance  it  must  be;  kindness  dictated 
the  use  of  bandages,  but  kindness  did  not  intend  them  tc 
be  a  torture,  which  they  became  by  being  thus  tight  and 
stopping  circulation.  As  errors  arising  from  good  nature 
are  the  easiest  cured;  once  show  that  these  errors  cause 
the  pain  which  should  be  prevented,  and  they  are  not 
likely  to  occur  again.  When  bandages  are  used,  they 
should  never  be  drawn  tightly  round  the  horse's  legs,  for 
in  that  case  they  weaken  instead  of  strengthen,  and 
cause  the  hair  to  curl.  Put  bandages  lightly  and  easily 
round  the  leg;  a  very  little  keeps  them  up,  and  should 
they  come  down  a  hundred  times,  it  is  better  than  that 
the  horse  should  be  tortured  once.  There  are  very  few 
who  will  not,  in  a  trifling  number  of  applications,  acquire 
the  habit  of  fitting  them  so  easily  that  they  are  a  great 
comfort  and  very  serviceable  to  the  legs  under  many  cir- 
cumstances, and  will  not  curl  the  hair  or  leave  unsightly 
marks;  nor  will  they,  when  thus  properly  put  on,  punish 
the  horse,  or  slip  down. 

SPLENTS. 

Splents  are  hard  bony  lumps  at  the  inside  of  the  leg, 
towards  the  back  of  the  cannon  bone,  anywhere  below 


34  THE   HORSE. 

the  knee  and  above  the  pastern  joints,  but  mostly  mid- 
way between  the  joints  named,  in  which  situation  they 
are  of  the  least  consequence. 

They  are  occasioned  by  breaking  the  colt  too  young, 
by  blows  from  the  fork  to  make  him  lift  his  legs  off  the 
straw  when  his  bed  is  being  made,  kicks  from  the  groom, 
blows  from  each  other,  or  received  in  leaping,  from 
strains,  from  being  over- weighted,  and  from  cutting  the 
inside  heel  too  low,  whereby  too  much  weight  is  thrown 
upon  the  sesamoid  bone,  which  is  the  small  bone  at  the 
back  of  the  leg  or  cannon  bone,  and  between  it  and  the 
tendon. 

While  forming,  they  frequently  occasion  great  lame- 
ness, on  account  of  the  inflammation  going  on  while 
nature  is  uniting  the  small  bone  (sesamoid)  behind  to 
the  cannon  (or  large  bone  of  the  leg),  that  they  may 
strengthen  one  another.  Generally  splents  are  only 
found  on  the  legs  of  young  horses;  for,  although  nature 
does  not  again  disunite  the  bones,  she  absorbs  those 
lumps  which  are  conspicuous  in  the  young  horse. 

After  this  union,  it  is  presumed  that  the  horse  is  not 
as  springy  as  before;  I  must  say,  however,  I  never  dis- 
covered any  difference  in  elasticity.  But,  as  they  do  not 
inconvenience  him  after  they  are  completely  formed,  and 
all  inflammation  has  ceased,  so  that  he  goes  free  from 
pain  (and  as  it  is  allowed  that  his  legs  are  stronger  and 
less  liable  than  formerly  to  injury)  it  is  a  blemish  of  the 
least  consequence  only,  and  the  animal  can  be  warranted 
as  SOUND. 

As  the  horse  gets  older,  these  excrescences  disappear, 
although  the  union  of  the  bones  is  asfirm  as  ever. 

SPEEDY  cur. 

Speedy  cut  is  seen  on  the  inside,  and  rather  on  the 
hind  edge  and  lower  corner,  of  the  knee.  Sometimes  the 


HOW  TO   BUY   AKD   SELL.  35 

bone  is  enlarged  without  any  bald  place  to  assist  in  detect- 
ing the  habit,  at  others  the  skin  only  is  cut;  sometimes 
both.  Like  other  enlargements,  it  may  increase  from  an 
almost  imperceptible  size  and  little  inconvenience,  to  a 
size  both  conspicuous  and  unsightly,  as  well  as  dangerous. 

Speedy  cut  is  occasioned  by  the  horse  twisting  his  legs 
in  action,  so  as  to  strike  the  shoe  or  foot  of  the  one  leg 
against  the  knee  of  the  other.  It  is  done  when  the  horse 
is  going  faster,  or  being  driven  more  up  to  the  bit,  at  the 
same  time  stepping  higher,  than  he  is  capable  of  doing 
with  propriety. 

Horses  given  to  this  action  are  mostly  good-couraged, 
and  a  thorough  horseman  who  knows  how  to  make  them 
step  without  touching,  at  the  same  time  bringing  out 
their  good  qualities,  sometimes  obtains  a  pleasant  horse 
quite  cheaply. 

To  others  than  good  horsemen,  such  animals  are  very 
dangerous — dear  at  a  gift.  Boots  are  a  little  safeguard. 
Down  hill  is  their  worst  chance,  and  the  attempt  at  hold- 
ing them  up,  except  by  the  thorough  horseman,  too  often 
brings  them  down. 

Eeject  them  if  you  value  your  limbs  and  neck,  although 
they  are  allowed  to  be  SOUND;  and  properly  so,  where 
they  are  capable  of  going  at  the  usual  pace  without 
inconvenience,  performing  the  usual  work  of  horses  of 
their  class  (not  speedy  cutters)  with  ordinary  usage, 
without  the  necessity  of  boots  or  more  than  ordinary 
care.  But  where,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  the  horse 
cannot  travel  usual  distances  at  the  ordinary  pace,  with 
the  common  rate  of  horsemen,  without  seriously  cutting 
and  otherwise  endangering  himself,  there  ought  to  be  a 
difference;  I  myself  do  not  believe  that  he  is  SOUND.  I 
would  recommend  the  seller,  where  there  is  the  least 
tendency  to  this  defect,  always  to  except  speedy  cutting 
in  his  receipt;  otherwise,  he  is  likely  to  get  into  a 
dilemma.  The  door  is  open  for  dispute.  Where  is  the 


36  THE   HORSE. 

man  who  is  not  a  horseman  in  his  own  estimation? 
Who  is  there  among  our  acquaintances  that,  if  he  is  not 
a  whip  or  horseman  of  the  first  water,  is  not  considerably 
above  the  average?  Do  you  know  any  one  so  modest  as 
to  allow  that  he  belongs  to  the  second-class?  On  the 
contrary,  have  you  not  found  that,  however  ignorant 
they  may  have  been  before  they  had  a  horse,  with 
their  first  they  have  become  miraculously  invested  with 
all  the  abilities  of  Phaeton?  Well,  then,  they  have  only 
to  state  their  case  to  a  lawyer,  when  he  replies  that  it  is  a 
capital  plea  for  an  action;  but  actions  are  expensive  and 
vexatious,  and  as  all  the  evils  above  enumerated  are  to 
be  avoided  by  a  little  caution,  will  it  not  be  better  to  use  it? 


HOCKS. 

The  hocks  are  an  important  part  of  the  horse;  his 
speed,  strength,  and  capability  to  perform  certain  kinds 
of  work  depending  almost  entirely,  if  not  altogether, 
upon  these  joints. 

The  blood  horse  cannot  be  a  racer  without  sufficient 
leverage  in  the  hocks  to  give  him  both  speed  and  strength. 

The  hunter  must  be  but  a  poor  leaper  without  a  certain 
perfection  here;  and  then,  in  proportion  to  this  desirable 
state,  all  other  things  combining,  so  will  he  vary  from 
the  best  to  the  worst  horse  of  his  description. 

The  parade  or  menage  horse,  in  order  to  be  good  and 
capable  of  continuing  even  for  a  few  minutes  at  the 
height  of  parade  action,  must  have  these  parts  quite  as 
strong  as  any  other  description  of  horse. 

The  military  horse,  again,  although  not  having  them 
called  into  such  violent  exertion,  or  so  frequently  as  the 
three  kinds  above-mentioned,  yet  from  being  set  a  great 
deal  upon  his  haunches,  and  having  to  halt  suddenly,  and 
being  heavily  weighted,  requires  much  strength  here. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  37 

This  is  one  of  the  principal  reasons  why  these  horses  are 
usually  found  such  good  workers. 

Ladies'  horses,  perhaps  have  their  hocks  most  tried  in 
proportion  to  the  weight  they  carry,  from  their  contin- 
ually cantering.  This  pace  is  most  calculated  to  try  these 
joints,  from  the  long  exertion  required  in  the  one  pace. 
If  proper  horses  for  ladies  to  ride,  they  are  "well  upon 
their  haunches,"  and  stop  as  well  as  the  charger,  with 
their  hind  legs  well  under  them. 

In  fact,  no  horse  can  be  either  easy,  safe,  or  satisfactory 
to  ride,  that  does  not  take  a  large  proportion  of  his  burden 
on  his  hind  legs. 

The  hackney  has  some  relief  by  change  from  one  pace 
to  the  other.  But  to  be  superior,  he  must  take  the 
weight  on  his  hind  legs;  this  enables  him  to  go  in  a  corky, 
light,  and  springy  manner, — no  shaking.  You  will  hear 
this  perfection  thus  described:  "He  goes  as  light  as  a 
cork,"  "would  not  break  an  egg."  Horses  thus  trained 
cannot  shake  you;  neither  can  they  fall  or  stumble. 

The  harness  horse  has  neither  to  canter  nor  leap,  neith- 
er has  he  weight  upon  his  back.  Here  you  have  to  con- 
sider the  speed  required,  and  the  weight  he  has  to  draw, 
with  the  style  of  action  you  desire;  whether  you  will  be 
satisfied  with  merely  being  moved  along,  or  whether  you 
wish  to  make  a  dash;  how  much  of  a  pace,  of  action,  or 
of  grandeur,  you  require  or  are  willing  to  sacrifice. 


CUKBS. 

Curbs  are  hard  bony  enlargements  at  the  back  and  on 
the  lower  part  of  the  hock.  They  may  be  of  such  little 
consequence  as  to  be  called  only  enlargements  on  the  seat 
of  curb,  or  large  enough  to  be  curbs.  While  forming,  the 
horse  is  sure  to  be  lame.  Either  they  are  a  proof  that 
the  hocks  are  ill-formed  (weak),  or  are  the  result  of  mis- 


38  THE  HORSE. 

management,  over-work,  strains,  or  blows.  Ignorant 
breakers  are  the  principal  originators  of  curbs.  Kicking 
in  harness,  or  against  the  stalls,  or  any  hard  substance, 
will  produce  them  on  the  best-formed  hocks.  When  they 
have  assumed  a  decided  form,  and  have  become  hard 
bony  substances,  and  all  inflammation  has  left,  if  the 
horse  goes  sound,  do  not  reject  him,  should  he  suit  in  all 
other  respects. 

"Whether  a  curbed  horse  is  sound  or  unsound  is  a  mat- 
ter of  dispute.  There  are  partisans  on  both  sides,  but  I 
think  the  majority  agree  with  me  in  opinion  that,  where 
he  is  capable  of  doing  all  the  work  required  of  horses  of 
his  class,  as  well  with  the  curbs  as  without  them,  he  is 

SOUND. 

If  the  curbs  are  large  enough  to  be  distinctly  seen,  or 
are  disfigured  by  treatment  or  otherwise,  they  are 

BLEMISHES. 

To  save  trouble  and  expense,  the  best  way,  where  there 
is  the  slightest  enlargement,  or  the  least  doubtful  qual- 
ity, is  to  make  an  exception  in  the  warranty.  (See  copy 
of  receipt,  with  warranty,  on  a  subsequent  page.)  Where 
the  hocks  are  naturally  ill-formed  and  weak,  the  horse 
is  UNSOUND. 

While  forming,  the  horse  being  lame,  it  is  almost  use- 
less to  mention  that  he  is  indisputably  UNSOUND. 

It  is  now  to  be  hoped  that  from  all  I  have  said  you  will 
see  that  it  is  your  fault  if,  from  this  cause,  you  lose  a 
good  horse  from  fastidious  fear,  or  take  a  useless  one 
screened  by  customary  subterfuge. 


SPAVINS. 


Spavins  are  enlargements  on  the  inside,  and  rather  to- 
ward the  front  of  the  hock;  they  are  produced  in  the 
same  manner  as  curbs. 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  39 

If  completely  formed  and  low  down,  quite  away  from 
the  joint,  and  rather  behind,  and  the  horse  goes  sound, 
having  hocks  otherwise  perfect,  do  not  reject  him. 

These  also  occasion  difference  of  opinion.  You  never 
find  a  hunter  that  has  done  any  work,  without  his  having 
either  the  seat  of  curb  or  that  of  spavin  enlarged.  He  is, 
nevertheless,  sound,  and  capable  of  doing  work  better 
than  the  younger  ones.  Both  diseases  are  brought  on  by 
the  same  causes.  Perhaps,  of  the  two,  the  spavin  is  more 
the  result  of  severe  work,  when  there  is  generally  some  lit- 
tle stiffness.  Too  often  the  groom  treats  the  wrong 
places;  or  if  he  does  treat  the  right  ones,  yet  the  evil  is 
only  deferred,  for  if  the  horse  is  continued  at  severe 
work,  the  spavins  will  form  and  re-form.  Proper  treat- 
ment may  prevent  their  being  of  the  larger  size,  and  may 
lessen  the  evil.  When  they  have  formed,  and  the  horse 
does  his  work  like  the  rest  of  the  old  ones  who  have  gone 
through  the  same  process,  the  groom  commends  himself 
for  the  result,  and  the  owner  congratulates  himself  upon 
the  improved  constitution  (strength)  of  the  horse. 

Taking  all  parts  of  the  hocks  into  consideration,  if 
they  are  affected  by  what  is  termed  enlargement  on  the 
seat  of  spavin,  the  disease  being  determined,  and  not 
likely  to  increase,  I  need  hardly  say  that,  if  the  horse  goes 
sound,  he  is,  according  to  common  sense,  SOUND. 

The  law,  however,  being  unsettled,  cases  having  been 
decided  both  ways,  the  best  way  is,  as  in  the  case  of 
curb  and  other  diseases,  to  except  spavins  in  the  war- 
ranty. 

Here  it  may  be  as  well  to  state  the  opinion  of  a  well- 
known  sportsman  and  horseman,  not  on  account  of  its 
being  an  exclusive  opinion  of  his  own,  but  as  the  opinion 
of  most  practical  men  of  his  class.  He  states,  that  there 
are  no  hunters  without  curbs  or  spavins,  or  both,  and 
that  they  are  SOUND. 

Horses  with  enlarged  hocks,  going  sound,  are  sold  al- 


4:0  THE   HOESE. 

most  every  day,  with  a  warranty,  without  the  least  suspi- 
cion being  entertained  of  their  being  wrong.  All  those 
acquainted  with  hunting  establishments  and  the  hocks  of 
horses  must  be  aware  that  there  does  not  seem  to  arise  any 
inconvenience  from  the  practice.  Why  then  should  not 
this  custom  become  a  law?  At  all  horse  repositories,  you 
will  see  horses  with  these  enlargements,  but  going  SOUND, 
sold  with  a  warranty,  the  buyer  rarely  discovering  that 
there  ever  was  the  least  flaw. 


CAPPED     HOCKS. 

Capped  hocks  are  the  result  of  blows,  not  unfrequently 
from  kicking,  or  rubbing  against  sharp  corners  of  the 
stall-post.  Stone  or  fluted  iron  pillars  at  the  back  end 
of  the  stalls  are  the  most  frequent  cause.  They  are  un- 
sightly, but  they  in  no  way  inconvenience  the  animal, 
unless  suppuration  takes  place,  when  they  heal  soon,  and 
the  swelling  disappears.  While  this  suppuration  is  go- 
ing on,  and  the  wound  is  unhealed,  as  there  is  a  disease 
in  progress,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

Although  in  itself  simple,  there  is  no  telling  with  cer- 
tainty what  will  be  the  result:  but  when  the  horse  is  cured, 
he  is  SOUND. 

Where  these  is  no  appearance  of  suppuration  taking 
place,  he  is  SOUND. 

Where  capped  hocks,  from  their  size,  become  a  disfig- 
urement to  the  horse,  a  suspicious  sign  on  harness  horses, 
they  must  be  recorded  as  a  BLEMISH. 


GEOGGY. 

Horses  that  are  what  is  usually  termed  groggy  do  not 
nod,  or,  rather,  bow  their  heads,  on  account  of  being 


HOW   TO   BUY  AKD   SELL.  41 

equally  lame  with  both  forefeet.  Their  ears  are  placed 
backwards  when  in  action,  and  there  is  a  peculiarity  about 
their  stepping,  as  if  from  anxiety  to  retain  their  feet 
upon  the  ground  each  time  they  touched  it.  There  is 
also  a  peculiarity  in  the  working  of  the  shoulder-blades, 
and,  in  spite  of  their  mostly  going  well  upon  their 
haunches  to  relieve  their  forefeet,  they  are  very  shaky 
and  unpleasant,  more  especially  when  put  into  the  canter. 
Some  consider  them  easy  in  the  trot.  They  ought,  how- 
ever, to  be  used  only  in  harness,  or  where  there  is  no 
weight  on  the  back:  they  are  UNSOUND. 


LAME. 

Horses  when  more  tender  in  one  foot  than  the  other — 
presuming  it  is  the  forefoot  or  leg — droop  the  head 
when  they  step  upon  the  unsound  foot,  and  raise  it  when 
stepping  on  the  sound  one;  they  also  step  "longer"  with 
the  lame  one  than  the  sound  one,  and  keep  it  a  shorter 
time  on  the  ground.  You  may  hear  the  lame  foot  touch 
the  ground  lighter  than  the  sound  one  with  its  hard, 
firm,  short  step.  Lameness  is  the  language  of  pain,  ex- 
pressing no  more  than  the  animal  really  feels;  it  tells  the 
plain  and  honest  truth,  with  the  greatest  simplicity.  Is 
not  this  "the  strongest  appeal  to  our  sympathies?  Ought 
we  not  to  attend  to  their  dictates,  and  do  all  we  can  to 
relieve  their  sufferings? 

A  little  care  at  the  proper  period  will  often  prevent  a 
lameness  becoming  permanent.  Slight  attention  will  re- 
lieve the  pain  of  the  incurable. 

Many  horses,  which  go  lame  with  weight  upon  their 
backs,  will  go  sound  in  single  harness,  because  the  weight 
is  lessened;  and  often,  where  lame  here,  will  go  sound  in 
double,  because  there  is  no  weight  at  all. 

Instead  of  riding  a  lame  horse,  try  single  or  double  har- 
ness. There  are  some  who  can  perform  slow  work  with- 


42  THE   HORSE. 

out  pain,  even  on  the  road,  when  they  are  no  longer  fit 
for  fast  work;  and  even  when  the  road  is  too  hard,  they 
may  work  about  a  farm.  I  need  hardly  add  that  there  is 
great  cruelty  in  keeping  horses  to  any  fast  work  when 
lame  in  it,  and  that  frequently  at  slow  work,  particularly 
on  soft  ground,  they  will  become  sound  if  kept  a  suffi- 
cient time  employed  upon  it.  From  the  preceding  ob- 
servations, you  will  see  the  propriety  of  having  the  horse 
ridden  prior  to  purchase. 

One  fallacy  I  must  here  point  out,  as  it  is  often  prac- 
tised by  persons  who  would  not  be  guilty  of  cruelty,  if 
they  imagined  they  were  perpetrating  it;  and  many  others 
•may  be  deterred  by  the  money  consideration :  it  is  the 
mistake  of  keeping  horses  at  work  when  they  are  lame, 
thinking  that  they  will  work  sound.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  all  lameness,  with  rare  exceptions,  is  curable 
(if  proper  remedies  are  resorted  to)  with  perfect  rest  at 
the  commencement  of  the  disease.  But  if  lameness  contin- 
ues without  remedy  beyond  six  weeks,  some  disorganiza- 
tion will  take  place.  The  diseases  of  horses  are  rapid  in 
their  progress  and  quickly  come  to  a  definite  termination; 
and  though,  after  neglect,  the  disease  may  be  mitigated, 
the  horse  can  never  be  restored  to  PERFECT  SOUNDNESS, 
but  will  most  probably  be  a  cripple  and  in  pain  to  the 
end  of  his  days.  In  the  earliest  stages  of  the  disease,  too, 
the  injured  part  is  more  easily  discovered.  This  is  more 
than  half  the  cure. 

Kor  is  the  veterinarian  to  be  blamed  for  not  being  too 
confident  as  to  the  immediate  seat  of  disease.  The  horse 
cannot  point  to  an  affected  part  and  say,  "  There  I  feel 
the  pain;"  but  together,  horse  and  doctor  will  soon  un- 
derstand enough  of  each  other  to  hit  upon  the  spot  and 
work  right. 

When  lame  behind,  horses  carry  their  heads  high,  go 
with  a  catch  of  the  hind  leg,  and  roll  the  hips.  Every 
species  of  lameness  and  tenderness  is  an 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SEI&rT  -JJ  T  TT  T?  T^g  T  T  Y 
EHEUMATISM. 


Rheumatism  can  be  discovered  only  when  the  horse  is 
lame,  and,  consequently,  unsound;  but  should  you  be 
able  to  prove  that  the  horse  was  afflicted  with  rheuma- 
tism within  a  reasonable  time  of  purchase,  and  that  he 
was  subject  to  that  disease  before  you  purchased  him, — 
even  though  he  was  going  sound  at  the  time  of  purchase, 
— if  he  was  warranted,  he  is  returnable.  This  is  a  dis- 
ease generally  brought  on  horses  by  carelessness  and  the 
supposition  that  they  are  never  afflicted  by  it.  Horses 
should  not  be  exposed  to  draughts,  particularly  in  the 
stable,  the  flooring  of  which,  more  especially  the  straw, 
should  be  dry  for  them  to  lie  upon.  As  horses  are  ex- 
posed to  damp  and  cold  out  of  doors,  people  imagine  it 
matters  not  what  condition  the  stable  may  be  in,  think- 
ing only  that,  if  foul,  it  may  spoil  their  coats.  Out  of 
doors  and  at  liberty  horses  are  not  exposed  to  draughts; 
whenever  they  can  they  will  get  out  of  them;  and  when 
unpleasantly  cold,  will  move  about  and  warm  themselves. 
This  they  have  not  room  to  do  in  the  stable.  Do  they 
ever  lie  down  in  the  wet  out  of  doors?  They  choose  the 
driest  spot  they  can  find;  and  when  cold,  they  will  either 
roll  and  get  an  extra  layer  of  dirt  as  a  covering,  or  other- 
wise exercise  themselves.  * 

For  this  disease  it  is  usual  to  treat  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  round  bone.  Therefore,  when  you  see  marks  of  blis- 
tering, setons,  or  firing  on  this  part,  even  though  the 
horse  at  the  time  of  examination  goes  free  from  lameness, 
you  have  reason  to  apprehend  occasional  inconvenience 
from  the  temporary  lameness  occasioned  by  this  com- 
plaint; and,  while  subject  to  the  return  at  intervals,  or 
where  it  is  a  determined  complaint  of  the  horse,  the  ani- 
mal is  UNSOUND. 

Where  the  cure  has  been  effected  some  time  and  no  re- 
lapse had  occurred,  as  it  is  clear  that  the  malady  has  not 


44:  THE   HORSE. 

become  a  constitutional  complaint  of  the  horse,  then  it 
may  be  considered  that  a  permanent  cure  has  been  effect- 
ed, and  the  animal  be  warranted  as  SOUND. 


THOROUGH   PINS. 


There  are  few  horses  who  have  done  any  work  with- 
out acquiring  thorough  pins.  They  are  a  windgall  in 
the  hock.  Unless  they  cause  inconvenience,  which  is 
rarely  the  case,  the  horse  is  SOUND. 


BLOOD  SPAVIN. 

Blood  spavin  is  the  enlargement  of  the  thigh  vein, 
where  it  passes  over  the  inside  of  the  hock.  It  is  known 
by  giving  way  and  disappearing  in  a  great  degree  upon 
pressure  being  applied  below  it;  but  it  returns  as  soon  as 
the  pressure  is  removed.  Blood  spavins  never  produce 
lameness,  and  are  of  rare  occurrence.  Severe  strains, 
bruises,  or  other  local  injuries  are  the  cause.  Some  will 
not  admit  that  the  disease  is  an  unsoundness,  while  oth- 
ers maintain  that  it  is.  Be  it  which  it  may,  in  those 
cases  where  it  proves  of  no  consequence,  it  can  only  be 
fastidiousness  to  refuse  the  horse;  therefore,  no  reasona- 
ble person  will  object  to  this  being  excepted  from  the 
warranty. 

Blood  spavins  may  be  produced  in  an  instant.  One 
step  or  slip  is  sufficient;  therefore,  admitting  it  is  an  un- 
soundness, and  you  discovered  one,  half  an  hour  after 
purchase,  you  could  not  return  the  horse,  unless  yon 
could  prove  he  had  had  it  prior  to  purchase. 

This  may  appear  strange  at  first  sight;  but  when  you 
reflect  that,  even  though  you  may  not  have  moved  the 
horse  one  yard,  a  slip  in  the  stall,  a  blow,  or  getting  up 
in  a  hurry,  may  produce  them,  you  must  see  that  it  is  no 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  45 

more  than  just  that  the  seller's  responsibility  should  end 
with  delivery;  in  at  least  so  far  that  it  becomes  your  duty 
after  acceptance,  should  the  defect  appear,  to  prove  that 
the  disease  or  tendency  thereto  existed  prior  to  delivery 
or  date  of  warranty. 


BOG  SPAVIN. 

Bog  spavin  is  a  windgall  on  the  inside  front  of  the  hock 
joint.  After  it  is  once  formed,  and  all  heat  and  inflam- 
mation are  gone,  it  is  rarely  of  any  consequence. 

Where  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  horse's  action,  and 
he  has  done  the  ordinary  work  of  horses  of  his  class  for 
the  required  time  since  it  formed,  without  extra  rest,  or 
inconvenience,  then  is  he  SOUND. 


STRING   HALT. 

This  disease  may  be  at  once  detected  by  the  awkward 
catch  of  the  leg  affected,  the  action  of  this  leg  being  much 
higher  than  the  others,  and  drawn  up  by  a  jerk.  It  is 
seldom  seen  in  both  hind  legs.  The  collapse  of  the  mus- 
cle, which  is  by  some  persons  supposed  to  be  the  cause  of 
this  peculiar  action,  is  occasioned  by  the  interior  of  the 
muscle  having  been  formed  into  a  kind  of  cyst  or  bag  by 
an  abscess  which,  having  discharged  the  pus,"  leaves  the 
interior  of  the  muscle  open.  It  is  frequently  supposed 
to  arise  from  inflammation  of  the  nerve;  while  others 
say  it  is  an  excess  of  energy  without  disease;  if  the  latter 
is  the  case,  and  the  horse  experiences  no  pain,  or  weak- 
ness, or  anything  to  prevent  it  from  working  as  well  as 
ever,  he  is  SOUND. 

This  defect  should,  however,  always  be  mentioned  by 
the  vendor. 

But  supposing  others  to  be  right  who  conjecture  that 


46  THE  HOESE. 

it  is  occasioned  by  an  inflamed  nerve,  then  it  must  be 

UNSOUND. 

I  should,  therefore,  advise  the  warranty  to  have  this 
disease  excepted. 

LOW  HIP. 

One  hip  being  lower  than  the  other  is  occasioned  by  a 
blow  having  knocked  the  lower  one  out  of  its  place.  It 
is,  in  fact,  a  fracture,  and  the  broken  part  being  unre- 
placeable,  is  drawn  down  by  the  muscles  and  unites  below 
its  original  place.  When  the  horse  ceases  to  go  lame,  as 
he  usually  soon  does,  he  is  sound;  it  must,  nevertheless, 
be  recorded  in  the  warranty  as  a  BLEMISH. 


OTHER   DISEASES   OF  JOINTS. 

With  the  other  joints  all  difficulty  is  soon  removed, 
as  they  show  their  diseases  by  lameness,  and  when  well 
they  are  SOUND. 

If  any  enlargement  or  scar  remains,  it  is  a    BLEMISH. 


GEEASE. 

Grease  is  a  disease  seldom  seen  in  well-managed 
stables.  It  is  a  proof  of  neglect.  If  recent,  it  is 
easily  cured,  and  is,  therefore,  of  little  consequence. 
Till  cured,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

Afterwards,  SOUND. 


CEACKED  HEELS. 

When  of  recent  occurrence,  cracked  heels  are  of  less 
consequence  than  grease.     Till  cured,  the  animal  is 

UNSOUND. 
Afterwards,  SOUND. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  4? 

SWOLLEN  LEGS. 

When  swollen  legs  proceed  from  dropsy,  or  farcy,  or 
are  of  long  standing,  and  therefore  a  sign  of  general 
debility,  they  are  difficult  of  cure,  and  the  horse  is 
mostly  useless,  except  for  slow  work,  and  therefore 

UNSOUND. 

In  the  milder  forms,  where  the  swelling  arises  either 
from  too  much  fatigue,  or  from  •  want  of  medicine, 
whether  tonics,  depletants,  or  exercise,  until  cured  the 
horse  is  UNSOUND. 

When  the  swelling  is  permanently  removed       SOUND. 


STARING   COAT. 

Where  the  horse's  coat  is  harsh,  dry,  and  staring, 
you  may  at  once  make  up  your  mind  that  he  is 

UNSOUND. 

If  he  has  not  an  active  disease,  he  has  a  chronic  one. 
Koarers,  whistlers,  those  with  old  coughs  and  broken 
wind  and  subject  to  megrims,  old  crib  biters,  wind- 
suckers,  etc.,  etc.,  all  have  thejr  coats  more  or  less  af- 
fected. 


WENS. 

A  wen  situate  about  the  upper  part  of  the  windpipe, 
or  upon  any  main  vein  or  artery,  where  it  is  likely  to  be 
of  consequence,  is  an  UNSOUNDNESS. 

But  if  wens  occur  on  other  parts,  as  on  the  top  of  the 
hock,  termed  cap  hock,  on  the  elbow,  or  on  any  other 
place  where  they  are  of  little  consequence,  and  could  be 
removed  without  danger  if  they  should  become  an  incon- 
venience, but  at  present  appear  at  a  fixed  and  determined 
size  and  form,  then  is  the  horse  SOUND. 


48  THE   HOESE. 

CUTTING. 

Should  there  be  any  places  on  the  inside  of  the  pastern 
joint  which  have  at  some  period  had  the  hair  knocked 
off  by  the  foot  of  the  opposite  leg,  which  you  may  know 
to  be  the  fact  by  the  little  bald  places  that  remain  ever 
after,  you  must  examine  the  action  and  present  condition 
of  the  horse,  so  as  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  weakness, 
poverty,  being  over-worked,  or  worked  too  young,  bad 
horsemanship,  or  a  natural  defect  in  the  action  of  the 
horse,  that  induced  cutting. 

This  last  ought  to  be  an  UNSOUNDNESS,  according  to 
the  rule  laid  down,  and  is  so,  where  the  malformation  is 
so  serious  as  to  render  the  horse  naturally  incapable  of 
doing  the  work  of  horses  of  his  class,  unless,  whatever 
his  breed,  he  is  to  be  numbered  with  the  slow-draught 
horses;  in  that  case  he  is  inefficient,  not  being  capable  of 
the  ordinary  work  of  horses  of  his  class. 

When  a  horse  uses  his  legs  so  awkwardly  that  on  the 
least  exertion  he  must  cut  them — whether  the  peculiar 
gait  of  the  animal  has  been  acquired  by  bad  management, 
or  from  usage  in  the  breaking,  or  from  malformation — 
my  opinion  is  that  he  is  UNSOUND. 

The  law  should  be  governed  by  common  sense,  and  a 
jury,  I  feel  confident,  would  be  of  the  same  opinion;  for 
in  this  latter  case  it  is  only  by  extreme  care  and  not  tiring 
the  horse  that  you  can  keep  his  legs  from  becoming  raw. 
While  the  legs  are  in  that  state  any  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

It  requires  care  to  keep  him  from  falling.  Outs  prevent 
his  doing  the  work  of  horses  of  his  class  with  ordinary 
care,  and  this  renders  him  doubly  dangerous,  as  horse- 
men will  not  be  troubled  with  so  unsatisfactory  an  animal. 

Where  the  horse  has  been  cut  through  over-fatigue 
or  poverty,  and  has  recovered  from  the  weakness  conse- 
quent thereon,  requiring  no  more  care  than  other  horses, 
the  wounds  being  healed,  he  is  SOUND. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AHD   SELL.  49 

RAT  TAIL. 

Rat  tail  is  indiscriminately  employed  to  describe  the 
tail  of  the  horse  when  it  is  either  quite  free  from  hair  or 
partially  so.  It  does  not  prevent  the  horse  in  any  way 
from  being  SOUOT. 

Although  unsightly,  it  is  not  a  blemish  that  will  enable 
the  purchaser  to  return  the  horse,  as  it  is  impossible  not 
to  notice  so  glaring  a  disfigurement.  When  it  is  covered 
by  false  hair,  or  any  other  fraud  is  practised  in  order  to 
hide  it,  the  offence  is  punishable. 

This  is  considered  by  some  a  sign  of  a  good 
horse.  What  the  loss  of  the  hair  off  the  tail  has  to  do 
with  the  qualities  of  the  animal  we  do  not  pretend  to 
fathom;  perhaps  the  notion  has  arisen  from  the  naked 
stump  giving  an  appearance  of  width  to  its  quarters. 
The  itching  occasioned  by  disease  sometimes  causes  both 
good  and  bad  horses  to  become  minus  their  tail-hair. 

Keeping  the  tail  well  and  frequently  washed  with  soft 
soap  will  always  reproduce  the  hair  in  the  earlier  stages, 
and  not  unfrequently  in  cases  of  long  standing. 


Horses  having  had  the  operation  of  neurotomy  (popu- 
larly called  unnerving)  performed  upon  them  go  free 
from  lameness,  with  action  more  or  less  high,  their  step 
being  hard  and  heavy;  the  height  of  action  and  degree  of 
hardness  of  tread  depend  on  the  way  the  operation  is 
performed  and  the  place  operated  upon.  To  discover 
whether  the  high  operation  has  been  performed, 'that  is, 
depriving  of  feeling  every  portion  of  the  leg  and  foot 
below  the  marks  described,  pass  the  hand  along  the  back 
sinew;  if  the  horse  catches  up  the  leg  sharply,  this  ought 
to  excite  your  suspicion.  If  you  find  one  or  two  little 
knobs  or  lumps,  you  have  still  stronger  reason  for  sus- 
3 


50  THE   HOUSE. 

picion;  but  if  it  is,  on  these  scars  being  pressed,  that  he 
lifts  his  legs  suddenly,  depend  upon  it  that  he  has  been 
unnerved  there,  and  that  therefore  they  will  never  wear 
any  great  length  of  time, — most  probably  not  three 
months.  Should  the  symptoms  just  described  present 
themselves  on  feeling  along  the  back  of  the  pastern, 
between  the  junction  of  the  cannon-bone  and  the  pas- 
tern, and  the  foot,  the  operation  of  neurotomy  has  been 
performed  at  that  place.  In  the  latter  case,  the  unnerving 
has  been  performed  on  the  back  of  the  pastern-jointj  the 
foot  being  deprived  of  feeling  at  the  hinder  portion  only. 
The  horse  is  capable  of  showing  any  injury  the  other 
portions  of  the  foot  receive, — as  pricks  from  the  black- 
smith, bruises  from  stones,  etc.  He  therefore  stands  a 
better  chance  of  having  his  ailments  attended  to  before 
it  is  too  late.  How  long  they  will  work,  apparently 
sound,  after  the  operation,  is  altogether  a  lottery;  in  some 
instances,  with  the  lower  operation,  the  horse  works 
free  from  pain  for  many  years;  therefore,  in  some  cases  of 
lameness,  it  is  an  act  of  humanity  to  have  the  horse 
unnerved,  as  it  may  save  him  many  years  of  suffering, 
and  enable  him  to  retain  his  serviceableness  to  the  last. 
But  it  is  seldom  worth  any  one's  while  to  buy  under  such 
risk,  particularly  if  recently  performed;  for,  should  the 
navicnlar  disease  be  present,  although,  since  the  opera- 
tion, the  animal  has  been  free  from  lameness,  a  fracture 
of  the  union  of  the^navicular  and  coffin  bones  at  the 
minute  joint  which  they  form  within  the  horny  hoof  will 
be  the  result,  and  speedy  death  from  mortification  will 
most  probably  follow. 


COURAGE. 


That  the  horse  does  not  give  way  readily  to  pain,  there 
are  numerous   instances  on  record.     He  rushes  on  the 


HOW   TO    BUY   AKD   SELL.  51 

sword  when  lie  feels  the  point  pierce  his  bosom.  How- 
ever fatigued  or  ill  he  may  be,  on  he  plods  his  weary  way 
till  death  kindly  relieves  him.  What  other  animal  does 
this?  Man  himself  sometimes  dies  from  over-exertion, 
but  seldom  while  in  the  act.  The  dog — the  faithful 
companion  who  never  forsakes  his  master — when  over- 
fatigued  will  lie  down  on  the  wayside,  leaving  his  friend 
to  proceed  alone;  no  entreaty  can  urge  him  unto  death. 
Not  so  the  poor,  ill-requited,  over-worked,  abused  horse; 
neither  pain  nor  privation  checks  his  services,  as  the  fol- 
lowing authenticated  anecdote,  as  well  as  many  other 
instances  which  must  rush  upon  the  memory  of  every 
horseman,  or  of  any  one  who  reads  a  newspaper,  serves 
to  illustrate;  besides,  the  circumstance  serves  to  show 
the  effect  of  the  operation,  described  in  the  preceding 
article  on  unnerving  when  performed  upon  an  improper 
subject,  and  the  indomitable  spirit  just  referred  to. 
Hearing  the  following  tale  related  as  having  occurred  in 
Scotland,  I  took  some  pains,  when  travelling  through 
that  country,  to  ascertain  the  particulars. 

The  mare  which  is  the  subject  of  this  story  belonged 
to  a  Mr.  Miens,  a  large  coach  proprietor  in  Glasgow. 
After  some  trouble  I  saw  him,  when  he  told  me  the  mare 
I  referred  to  was  a  chestnut,  that  she  ran  a  stage  between 
Carlisle  and  Glasgow  as  leader,  that  she  had  been 
unnerved— the  high  operation — and  that  the  disease  for 
which  she  was  operated  upon  was  the  navicular.  One 
dark  night,  about  three  or  four  months  after  the  opera- 
tion, the  coachman  felt  her  drop,  but  she  recovered  her- 
self, and  ran  to  the  end  of  the  stage.  She  was  then  dis- 
covered to  be  very  lame,  and,  upon  examination  in  the 
stable,  it  was  found  that  the  whole  of  the  foot  was  off, 
and  that  she  must  consequently  have  run  some  distance 
on  the  stump  of  the  leg  bone.  The  next  morning  the 
foot  was  discovered  at  a  distance  of  not  less  than  two 
miles  from  the  inn  she  arrived  at,  and,  from  other  marks 


52  THE   HORSE. 

upon  the  road,  it  was  clear  that  the  poor  beast  must  have 
come  at  least  that  distance  on  the  raw  and  dislocated 
stump. 

I  have  entered  more  fully  into  this  operation  than  into 
any  other,  as  I  have  often  found  it  difficult  to  make  people 
understand  how  it  is  that  the  horse  is  not  sound  or  cured 
by  that  operation  which  takes  away  the  lameness. 

Although  the  lower  portion  of  the  limb  is  never 
restored  to  its  natural  quick  sensibility,  if  the  horse 
works  free  from  pain  for  from  two  or  three  years,  there  is 
every  probability  that  he  will  continue  to  do  so,  the  nerve 
being  united,  the  horse  can  perform  all  the  work  of 
horses  of  his  class;  yet,  until  we  have  better  data  to  go 
upon  as  to  the  mischief  resulting  from  injuries  in 
consequence  of  this  muffled  or  deadened  sensation,  he 
must  still  be  pronounced 


CHINKED    BACK. 

Chinked  back,  which  is  a  slight  dislocation  or  injury  of 
the  vertebrae  or  of  the  spinal  cord  running  through  them, 
is  caused  by  the  horse  being  pulled  up  suddenly  by  an 
unskillful  horseman,  or  being  over-weighted.  The  mis- 
fortune occurs  in  a  moment,  where  the  horse  is  stopped 
on  the  instant,  unless  his  legs  are  properly  placed 
at  the  precise  time;  it  is  therefore  dangerous  for  any  but 
an  accomplished  horseman  to  attempt  it,  and  more  es- 
pecially from  the  circumstance  that  the  horse  is  not  a  re- 
turnable purchase  if  you  discover  this  defect  a  few  min- 
utes after  purchase,  unless  you  can  prove  that  the  injury 
existed  prior  to  his  becoming  your  property.  When  the 
horse  drops  at  the  pastern  joint  of  the  hind  legs  while 
being  ridden,  you  have  reason  to  apprehend  this  defect, 
particularly  where  you  find  that  the  front  of  the  hind 
pastern  joint  has  been  cut  or  injured  at  any  time,  or  that 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  53 

the  horse  grunts  on  being  backed,  or  winces  on  being 
pressed  on  the  affected  part.  UNSOUND. 

"Where  the  injury  is  slight,  chinked-back  horses  fre- 
quently carry  light  weights  very  well,  but  are  best  in  har- 
ness, more  particularly  in  double  harness.  How  long  they 
may  keep  usable  depends  on  the  management  of  those 
who  use  them,  and  upon  their  proper  adaptation  to  their 
work.  UNSOUND. 


BROKEN  BACK. 

The  name  sufficiently  explains  this  injury.  It  is  known 
by  an  aggravation  of  all  the  symptoms  mentioned  in 
chinked-back,  added  to  which  broken-backed  horses  can- 
not kick.  They  may  work  a  little  as  leaders  in  carts,  or 
do  other  slow  work.  At  all  events,  when  you  are  a  buyer, 
consider  them  useless  and  UNSOUND. 


DEOPPING    BEHIND. 

Dropping  behind,  or  knuckling  with  the  pastern  joint 
or  joints,  may  be  produced  by  chinked  or  broken  back. 
(See  both  these  articles. )  In-  either  of  these  cases  the 
horse  is  UNSOUND. 

Where,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  it  is  merely  occa- 
sioned by  a  pressure  upon  the  kidneys  from  want  of  med- 
icine, until  the  physic,  when  applied,  has  ceased  to  affect 
him,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

When  the  medicine  has  worked  off,  if  he  no  longer 
drops,  he  is  SOUND. 

Sometimes  an  awkward -fitting  saddle  will  occasion  him 
to  drop  as  above  described.  Here  you  have  only  to  re- 
move the  cause,  when  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that 
the  horse  is  SOUND, 


54  THE   HOUSE. 

STUMBLING. 

In  the  well-formed  horse,  stumbling  is  an  impossibil- 
ity, unless  he  is  leg-weary,  the  shoes  do  not  fit  properly,  or 
the  saddle  hurts  him;  mind  not  what  either  the  saddler 
or  groom  says,  but  depend  upon  it  that  the  saddle  does 
hurt  him,  if,  upon  examination,  you  find  that  the  shoes  * 
do  not  hurt.  I  have  seen  too  many  instances  of  their  mis- 
takes to  care  what  they  say,  and  am  convinced  that  very 
few  really  know  when  a  saddle  does  fit.  I  have  bought 
many  horses  that  had  got  into  disgrace  for  this  fault,  but 
they  have  never  stumbled  after  they  came  into  my  pos- 
session. The  secret  was,  I  took  care  to  have  a  saddle  that 
fitted  both  the  horse  and  my  own  ideas.  (See  article  on 
Broken  Knees. )  Persevere  in  using  a  misfitting  saddle, 
and  the  horse  will  fall. 


LAMENESS. 

Should  your  horse  go  lame  behind  when  mounted,  and 
not  at  other  times,  as  this  most  probably  is  caused  by  the 
saddle  pressing  on  the  backbone,  try  another  saddle.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  his  going  lame  before,  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances,  except  that  in  this  case  the  saddle 
hurts  the  foreparts. 

If,  when  -the  saddle  is  changed,  he  goes  free  from  lame- 
ness, the  animal  may  be  considered  SOUND. 


DROPPING    BEFORE. 

Dropping  before,  or  knuckling  with  the  pastern  joint 
of  the  forefoot,  if  not  occasioned  by  tender  feet  or  weak- 
ness, but  arising  solely  from  youth  or  carelessness,  does 
not  affect  the  horse's  soundness. 

The  exceptions  are  treated  under  their  respective  heads; 
in  these  cases  horses  are  UNSOUND. 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  55 

Dropping  before  may  be  occasioned  by  treading  on  a 
stone,  by  a  misfitting  saddle,  or  by  accidents  of  any 
kind.  In  eithej  of  the  last-mentioned  cases,  the  horse  is 

SOUND. 

See  the  preceding  three  articles. 

If  the  dropping-bef ore  arises  from  malformation  or  ten- 
der feet,  the  horse  is 


FLESHY  HEEL. 

Fleshy  heel  is  an  abnormal  structure  of  the  frog, 
wherein  the  sensitive  part  of  the  foot  becomes  too  much 
exposed,  the  horse  thereby  being  more  or  less  tender  ac- 
cording to  the  progress  of  the  disease,  and  therefore 

UNSOUND. 


CUNNING     LAMENESS. 

In  those  cases  in  which  horses  are  said  to  sham  lame- 
ness, that  is,  appearing  sound  at  one  time  and  unsound 
at  another,  there  is  invariably  something  wrong;  it  is  not 
a  case  of  shamming,  but  of  painful  reality.  (See  the  ar- 
ticle on  "Unnerving.")  In  such  cases  a  reason  can 
always  be  found,  either  in  a  slight  touch  of  rheumatism, 
paralysis,  or  non-adjustment  or  misfit  of  the  saddle. 

To  illustrate  these  facts,  I  will  mention  one  out  of  the 
many  cases  that  have  come  under  my  notice. 

A  friend  of  mine  had  a  delightful  little  mare,  remark- 
able for  her  height  in  the  withers,  named  ' '  Brunette." 
This  mare  I  was  requested  to  examine  with  a  view  to- 
wards discovering  the  rationale  of  her  continually  stum- 
bling in  a  very  serious  manner,  and  at  uncertain  and  un- 
expected times. 

She  was  certain,  if  she  made  one  initiatory  stumble,  to 
continue  stumbling  all  day;  contrariwise,  if  she  did  not 


56  THE   HORSE. 

stumble  soon  after  starting,  she  might  be  trusted  to  do 
her  day's  work  throughout,  without  stumbling. 

Upon  examining  her  as  to  form,  etc.,  I  concluded  that 
the  cause  of  this  misbehavior  must  be  in  some  fault  in  her 
tackle,  and  I  therefore  inquired  whether  she  always  wore 
the  same  saddle.  I  was  told  that  she  wore  various  sad- 
dles, which  were  shown  to  me;  I  therefore  selected  and 
marked  one  for  her  use,  and  very  shortly  afterwards  she 
ceased  stumbling. 

Her  groom  had  always  considered  this  habit  to  be  a 
mischievous  trick  on  her  part,  induced  by  her  recollect- 
ing having  been  brought  home  by  her  master  in  conse- 
quence of  the  stumbling;  and  he  told  me  that  if  she  had 
been  well  punished  in  the  first  instance,  she  would  have 
had  the  trick  flogged  out  of  her,  and  would  have  given  no 
subsequent  trouble.  I  myself  believe  that  had  such  a 
course  been  adopted,  the  mare  would  have  had  her  knees 
broken,  and  that  fistula  would  soon  have  been  developed 
upon  her  withers. 

As  it  now  appeared  that,  though  she  had  ceased  to 
stumble  or  go  lame  when  ridden  with  an  ordinary  saddle, 
she  invariably  went  lame  when  ridden  by  a  lady.  I  was 
asked  whether  I  could  account  for  this  peculiarity  other- 
wise than  by  cunning.  Again  I  referred  the  evil  to  the 
saddle;  and,  upon  inquiry,  I  found  that  the  owner  had 
hitherto  been  unable  to  procure  a  side-saddle  of  such  a 
make  as  not  to  raw  the  back  of  the  mare  when  used  by  a 
lady  for  an  hour  or  two  at  a  time,  making  it  necessary, 
therefore,  that  the  next  day  should  be,  so  to  speak,  wasted 
in  paying  attention  to  the  abrasion  thus  produced.  I  also 
ascertained  that  the  stuffing  of  the  side-saddle  had  been 
altered  and  shifted  every  time  she  went  out — about  three 
times  a  week.  I  sent  for  the  saddler  and  showed  him 
what  was  wanting;  but  he  either  could  not,  or  would  not 
understand  me;  and  although  he  had  had  the  saddle  several 
times  under  his  hands,  he  had  not  been  able  to  alter  it, 


HOW   TO    BUY   AND   SELL.  57 

so  as  to  make  it  fit  for  more  than  one  or  two  day's  work. 
Happening  to  be  present  on  the  last  occasion  on  which  he 
brought  back  the  saddle,  and  knowing  how  repeatedly  he 
had  failed  to  make  it  fit,  I  made  some  remarks  which  ex- 
•  cited  his  anger,  and  he  declared  that  no  one  could  succeed 
better  than  he  had  done,  and  defied  any  one  to  make  a 
lady's  saddle  that  would  not  hurt  the  mare.  I  therefore 
altered  the  saddle  myself,  and  successfully;  for,  during 
several  subsequent  years  in  which  my  friend  kept  and 
used  the  mare,  she  never  went  lame,  never  had  a  sore 
back,  and  never  made  one  single  stumble. 

How  often  has  it  fallen  to  my  lot  to  see  good  horses 
sacrificed  needlessly,  through  the  use  of  insufficient  or 
inappropriate  tackle,  and  apparently  becoming  lame  and 
weakened! 


BEARING-REIN. 

Among  the  many  advantages  of  dispensing  with  the 
bearing-rein,  not  the  least  is  that  of  doing  away  with  the 
nut  which  fastens  the  hook  in  the  saddle,  as  this  not  un- 
commonly hurts  the  horse's  back,  producing,  if  not 
broken  knees  and  fistula,  at  least  a  troublesome  sore  on 
the  withers. 

Whether  such  a  result  be  the  smallest  pimple  or  the 
largest  wen,  the  merest  abrasion  or  the  foulest  ulcer,  the 
horse  is,  in  any  case  UNSOUND. 

When  the  sore  is  healed,  and  the  horse  is  restored  to 
perfect  usefulness,  he  is  again  SOUND. 

When  the  saddle  hurts  the  horse  so  much  as  to  cause 
him  to  go  lame,  or  to  fall  upon  his  knees,  and  no  sore 
is  visible  on  the  removal  of  the  saddle,  he  is  SOUND. 

But,  should  there  be  any  wound  caused  by  the  saddle, 
the  animal  is,  until  cured,  UNSOUND. 

Under  no  circumstances  should  the  bearing-rein  be 
tight.  When  it  is  too  tight  it  prevents  the  animal  from 


58  THE   HOBSE. 

throwing  the  necessary  weight  upon  the  collar,  disturbs 
the  circulation  to  the  head,  and  causes  apoplexy,  me- 
grims, and  other  evils.  But  in  double  harness  the  bear- 
ing-rein should  be  sufficiently  tight  to  prevent  the  horses 
from  catching  their  bits  in  the  pole-piece,  though  this 
prevention  is  sometimes  attempted  by  removing  the  lower 
bar  from  the  bit.  What  is  thereby  avoided,  however,  at 
the  bottom  of  the  bit,  frequently  occurs  to  an  equal  ex- 
tent by  the  catching  of  the  cheek  of  the  bit  in  the  other 
horse's  head-gear. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  far  upon  the  injuries  arising  from  a 
misfitting  saddle,  as  they  cause  great  annoyance  and  pain 
to  the  horse,  as  well  as  inconvenience  to  the  owner,  and 
are  easily  rectified  by  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble 
to  look  in  the  right  direction  for  the  cause;  especially  as 
the  same  remarks  apply  to  all  parts  of  misfitting  trapping, 
such  as  saddles,  bridles,  harness,  rollers,  head-stalls,  etc. 
For  in  this  case,  what  is  true  of  one  part  applies  to  all 
the  horse's  furniture,  when  even  the  slightest  injury  is 
caused  to  him. 

A  misfitting  bridle  or  winker  may,  and  often  does,  pro- 
duce blindness  or  severe  shying;  yet  this,  like  many  other 
simple  things,  has  been  often  overlooked  or  misappre- 
hended, from  a  natural  proneness  to  forget  that  "  great 
events  from  little  causes  spring. " 

Thus,  in  "Brunette's"  case,  before  named,  I  proved 
that  the  fault  lay  in  the  saddle.  Some  persons  attributed 
her  habit  of  stumbling  to  cunning;  others,  of  a  more 
scientific  turn  of  mind,  stated  it,  variously,  to  be  partial 
paralysis;  the  remains  of  an  old  strain  only  felt  by  the 
mare  when  carrying  a  one-sided  weight;  or  the  result  of 
an  old  strain,  which,  owing  to  the  almost  imperceptible 
changes  in  the  atmosphere,  affecting,  as  such  changes  do, 
the  constitutions  of  all  animals,  affected  her  more  at  one 
time  than  at  another. 

True  it  is  that  the  weather  and  atmosphere  exercise 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  59 

considerable  influence  on  the  health  and  spirits  of  horses; 
it  is,  nevertheless,  unnecessary  to  seek  out  remote  and 
unaccountable  causes,  until  we  have  examined  the  more 
matter-of-fact  ones  which  are  within  ou.j?-  r^each, 

vUNIVEHSITYJ 

SINEWS. 

When  the  sinews  at  the  back  of  the  fore  legs  become 
thickened,  between  the  knee  and  the  pastern  joint,  as 
there  is  always  more  or  less  weakness  or  irritability  re- 
sulting from  old  strains,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

When  the  sinews  of  the  hind  leg,  between  the  hock  and 
the  pastern,  become  thickened,  even  if  this  thickening 
vanishes  when  the  horse  takes  exercise,  he  must  be  held 
to  be  UNSOUND. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  such  thickening  be  the  result  of  a 
blow,  appears  callous,  does  not  occasion  inconvenience, 
and  does  not  decrease  when  the  horse  is  at  exercise,  the 
horse  must,  in  that  respect,  be  esteemed  SOUND. 

Great  care  must,  in  such  cases,  be  taken  that  he  do  not 
kick  when  in  harness.  • 


BROKEN  WIND. 

The  disease,  broken  wind,  is  easily  recognized  by  the 
horse's  peculiar  suppressed  cough  when  at  exercise,  after 
a  hearty  meal,  or  upon  being  changed  from  one  kind  of 
atmosphere  to  another,— as,  for  instance,  from  the  stable 
air  to  a  cold  and  foggy  atmosphere,  or  vice  versa. 

If  you  observe  a  horse  thus  afflicted,  when  he  is  quiet, 
you  may  notice  that  the  flank  appears  to  distend  and  con- 
tract twice  while  the  ribs  rise  once. 

Immediately  after  brisk  exercise  this  labored  breath  is 
still  more  apparent;  the  nostrils  being  more  or  less  dis- 


60  THE   HORSE. 

tended,  and  a  peculiar  seam  or  wrinkle  between  them  be- 
ing perceptible,  whereas  in  horses  of  "good  wind"  no 
such  mark  can  be  found. 

Broken-winded  horses  are  UNSOUND. 


ROARING. 

Horses  afflicted  with  the  disease  named  roaring  make, 
when  galloping  or  trotting,  a  peculiar  noise,  the  nature 
of  which  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  its  name.  Such 
horses,  upon  being  suddenly  agitated,  checked,  or  pulled 
up  short,  make  more  or  less  of  this  noise,  according  to 
the  progress  the  disease  has  made.  Koaring  is  a  chronic 
disease  of  the  windpipe,  or  perhaps,  more  correctly,  the 
remains  of  such  a  disease;  but  when  it  is  not  acute  or  se- 
rious, the  horse  does  not  appear  to  suffer  much  incon- 
venience from  it  in  its  earlier  stages,  although  the  noiso 
caused  by  it  is  very  unpleasant;  if  the  horse  is  put  to  fast 
work,  the  noise  will  increase,  till  it  at  last  becomes  most 
distressing  to  both  horse  and  user. 

The  roarer's  coat  usually  indicates  a  departure  from 
robust  health,  however  fat  the  horse  may  be. 

Such  a  horse  is  adapted  to  slow  work  only,  and  is 

UNSOUND. 


GRUNTING. 

Although  grunting,  which  is  produced  in  the  horse  by 
his  being  suddenly  agitated  by  the  use  of  spur  or  whip, 
or  by  his  being  pulled  up  hastily,  is  not  unlike  roaring, 
yet  as  he  does  not  make  the  former  sound  on  any  other 
occasion,  I  believe  the  two  affections,  roaring  and  grunt- 
ing, to  be  quite  distinct. 

The  coat  of  the  grunter  does  not  imply  disease. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  61 

I  myself  have  never  known,  nor  have  I  ever  met  any 
one  who  has  known,  this  complaint  to  change  into  roar- 
ing; yet,  as  many  persons  think  it  probable  that  it  might 
do  so,  and  that  it  may  be  the  remains  of  some  disease, 
the  horse  is  considered  to  be  UNSOUND. 

My  opinion  is  that  the  noise  proceeds  from  nervous- 
ness, and  not  from  any  disease;  and  that  as  it  does  not 
hinder  the  animal  from  performing  the  labor  due  from 
one  of  his  class,  the  horse  is  SOUND. 

However,  as  opinions  differ  upon  this  subject,  the  safest 
course  is  to  bar  even  grunting  in  a  warranty  for  sound- 
ness. 


WHISTLING. 

The  presence  of  whistling  is  easily  ascertained  by  a 
sharp  gallop,  which  will  quickly  cause,  if  it  be  present, 
the  wheezing  or  whistling  noise.  This  malady  may  or 
may  not  be  curable.  When  it  is  only  attendant  upon 
another  disease,  the  whistling  will  vanish  with  the  dis- 
ease: thus,  for  instance,  it  frequently  accompanies  a  cold, 
but,  on  the  cold  being  cured,  vanishes  and  is  not  heard 
again.  Where  it  assumes  a  chronic  form,  as  it  fre- 
quently does  when  produced  by  water  on  the  chest,  by 
inflammation  of  the  lungs,  or  by  injury  to  the  windpipe, 
it  is  incurable. 

As  the  cold  is,  per  se,  an  unsoundness,  whistling  is,  of 
course,  in  this,  its  least  aggravated  form,  an 

UNSOUNDNESS. 

When  a  good  and  serviceable  horse  has  become  affected 
with  whistling  only  in  his  gallop,  and  not  in  his  trot, 
he  does  not  suffer  inconvenience  from  this  pace,  and  he 
may  advantageously,  if  suited  to  that  kind  of  work,  be 
put  into  harness ;  and  although  there  may  exist  some  lit- 
tle wheezing,  a  fair  pace  does  not  distress  the  animal;  he 


62  THE  HORSE. 

may  be  usefully  employed  in  harness-work,  while  his 
whistling  will  be  drowned  by  the  noise  of  the  wheels:  he 
is,  however,  UNSOUND. 


WHEEZING. 

See  the  article  on  "  Whistling." 

COUGH. 

However  simple  or  however  recent  in  origin  a  cough 
may  be,  while  it  lasts  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

It  is  of  great  importance  that  immediate  attention  be 
paid  to  the  horse  on  the  first  symptoms  of  cough  being 
noticed,  while  the  cure  is  easy.  The  diseases  to  which 
horses  are  liable  are,  for  the  most  part,  rapid  in  progress; 
every  hour  of  delay  increases  the  difficulty,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  disease  becomes  developed  in  an  acute  or  chronic 
form,  condemning  the  horse  to  a  life  of  base  drudgery, 
and  making  him  miserable  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

CHRONIC   COUGH. 

"While  some  horses,  when  laboring  under  chronic 
cough,  are  almost  useless,  others  are  but  little  inconven- 
ienced and  are  as  useful  as  ever:  they  are  all,however, 

UNSOUND. 

See  the  article  on  "  Cough." 


COLDS. 


A  horse  suffering  from  cold  in  the  head,  which  often 
produces  whistling,  is,  for  the  nonce,  UNSOUND. 

See  articles  on  "Cough"  and  "Whistling." 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND  SELL.  63 

ASTHMA. 

Asthma  may  be  recognized  by  the  short,  soft  cough 
that  it  produces.  In  some  cases  the  inconvenience  caused 
by  this  complaint  is  but  slight,  the  horse  giving  merely  a 
scarcely  perceptible  cough  on  coming  out  of  or  going 
into  the  stable,  and  the  more  in  the  winter  than  in  sum- 
mer: the  extent  of  such  cough  depends  upon  the  atmos- 
phere and  cleanliness  of  his  box.  Very  commonly,  horses 
touched  with  asthma  do  not  cough  when  working,  nor 
seem  distressed  like  broken-winded  horses. 

Such  horses  often  last  many  years,  fulfilling  the  func- 
tions of  their  particular  class,  without  inconvenience; 
yet,  as  there  is  chronic  disease  present,  besides  an  as- 
sumed predisposition  to  injury  of  the  kings,  they  are 


CKIB-BITIKG. 

Crib-biting  is  a  habit  that  some  horses  nave,  of  taking 
hold  of  the  manger  with  the  teeth,  or  of  resting  the  jaws 
upon  it,  accompanied  by  a  disagreeable  noise  caused  by 
sucking  in  and  ejecting  wind.  It  is  a  trick  which  horses 
sometimes  learn  of  one  another,  but  it  is  generally  caused 
by  neglect  in  providing  work  for  these  naturally  active 
animals;  by  omitting,  when  young,  to  keep  them,  when 
unexercised,  on  a  mouthing  bit;  and  by  allowing  them  to 
stand  idle  in  the  stable  with  no  food  before  them,  es- 
pecially when  their  heads  are  tied  up,  so  that  they  can- 
not amuse  themselves  by  picking  about  in  their  beds. 

The  stomach  of  the  horse  has  a  natural  tendency  to 
keep  distended,  and  therefore,  if  it  be  not  replenished 
with  food,  it  will  become  filled  with  air,  and,  if  distended 
by  too  profuse  a  supply  of  the  latter,  will  cause  uncom- 
fortable sensations  to  him:  in  which  case,  as  he  is,  by  na- 
ture, incapable  of  eructating;  reason  or  instinct,  which- 


64  THE   HOESE. 

ever  expression  you  prefer,  induces  him  to  adopt  this 
method  as  the  most  effectual  means  of  relieving  himself 
from  this  inconvenience. 

In  its  earlier  stages,  a  little  well-timed  attention  will 
cure  a  horse  of  this  practice;  and  if  he  be  in  good  con- 
dition, and  his  coat  smooth,  soft,  and  pliable,  he  is,  in 
spite  of  this  habit,  SOUND. 

As  crib-biting  will,  in  all  probability,  if  not  quickly 
checked,  lead  to  serious  results,  specified  in  the  following 
article,  it  may  be  deemed  to  be  a  VICE. 

In  the  more  advanced  stages  of  crib-biting,  neglect 
will  have  allowed  the  stomach  and  digestive  organs  to 
become  affected,  and  the  horse,  being  therefore  diseased, 
will  be  UNSOUND. 

In  this  latter  stage  of  the  disease  the  horse  is  thin,  his 
coat  stares  or  looks  unthrifty,  and  his  hide  becomes  tight; 
his  cure  is  then  difficult  to  effect,  and  is  generally 
troublesome,  if  not  impossible,  to  bring  about. 


PKEVENTION   OF    CRIB-BITING    (iN  THE   EARLY   STAGES.) 

Moderating  the  work  will  frequently  cure  horses  of 
crib-biting,  and  will,  where  they  appear  weakly  and  out 
of  order,  and  their  coats  "stare,"  (even  though  they  be 
not  crib-biters,)  reinstate  them  in  health.  In  the  latter 
cases  an  earlier  release  for  the  night  from  work  should  be 
granted  when  circumstances  allow. 


EATING   BEDS. 


Many  persons  feel  alarmed  at  their  horses  eating  their 
beds;  and  very  frequently  in  such  cases  grooms  physic 
their  horses  with  a  view  towards  preventing  this  habit; 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND  SELL.  65 

certainly,  while  the  nausea  resulting  from  the  medicine 
lasts,  the  desired  effect  is  produced;  but,  when  the  nausea 
is  gone,  the  horse  returns  more  ravenously  than  ever  to  the 
practice,  and  so,  eventually,  by  repeated  physickings,  the 
healthy  tone  of  the  stomach  is  destroyed,  and  the  refu- 
sal to  eat  sufficiently  is  met  with  extra  medicine,  in  a 
yam  attempt  to  restore  the  appetite  which  has  been  wan- 
tonly and  foolishly  damaged. 

To  such  alarmists  a  few  observations  concerning  this 
craving  of  the  horse  may  be  useful.  I  myself  have  been 
asked  to  provide  some  preventive  for  this  habit,  and 
my  invariable  answer  has  been, — "  Keep  better  food  be- 
fore the  horse;  never  let  him  stand  too  long  without  ex- 
ercise or  sufficient  to  eat,  and  you  may  depend  upon 
finding  that  he  will  never  eat  his  dirty  bed." 

If  you  follow  this  advice,  you  may  be  sure  that  he  will 
not  eat  dirty  straw,  and  that,  if  he  does  eat  a  little  clean 
straw  from  his  new  bed,  he  does  so  only  either  when  he 
finds  an  unthreshed  ear,  or  when,  having  been  too  highly 
fed,  he  picks  up  a  little  to  distend  his  stomach  with  some- 
thing rather  less  nutritious  than  his  accustomed  fare. 

Bed-eating  is  not  a  disease,  and  a  horse  with  this  habit 
can  be  warranted  as  SOUND. 

.  And,  as  it  is  not  attended  by  any  real  inconvenience, 
but  is  often  a  proof  of  good  constitution,  it  is  not  even 
regarded  as  a  VICE. 

Arabs  are  delighted  when  they  see  a  horse  eat  his  own 
dung,  saying  that  that  is  a  proof  that  he  will  not  starve. 

More  harm  is  done  by  letting  horses  stand  too  long 
without  food  than  by  putting  too  much  before  them;  and 
although  it  is  true  that  a  ravenous  horse  does  occasion- 
ally burst  his  stomach  by  excess  in  eating,  as  for  instance, 
when  he  gets  loose  and  finds  out  the  corn-bin,  yet  such 
cases  occur  only  when  he  has  been  much  restricted  in  his 
diet,  or  has  been  worked  for  many  hours,  at  a  spell,  with- 
out food.  These  cases  are  of  very  rare  occurrence,  and 


66  THE   HORSE. 

would  be  still  more  uncommon  were  proper  and  sufficient 
food  regularly  supplied. 

Who  has  ever  heard  of  a  stage-coach  horse,  unstinted 
in  his  food,  eating  to  this  excess;  or  a  horse  at  grass 
bursting  himself  in  this  manner? 

Craving  horses  are  the  horses  that  should  be  selected 
for  real  work,  but  they  are  liable  to  become  crib-biters  if 
too  stringent  a  rule  be  observed  in  the  matter  of  food  or 
exercise. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  horse  having  a  delicate 
stomach,  and  not  the  hard- worker,  that  requires  pamper- 
ing and  nursing,  care  being  taken  that  he  be  not  fed  ad 
nauseam.  Such  a  horse,  on  account  of  his  indisposition 
to  feed  or  work,  does  not  show  much  evidence  of  past 
labor. 

Except  where  under  medical  treatment,  he  is 


THE  SOUKD  HORSE. 

The  sound  horse  is  often  too  delicate  to  undergo  an 
amount  of  work  which  distresses  the  legs,  but  he  is  nev- 
ertheless much  coveted;  while  the  useful  horse,  possessing 
good  stamina,  the  power  to  work  without  causing  pain  to 
himself,  and  every  evidence  that  he  will  long  retain  that 
power,  is  too  often  rejected,  because  he  shows  a  few  signs 
of  past  work. 

Horse-buyers  are  too  apt  to  be  frightened  at  trifles 
through  their  ignorance  of  real  and  imaginary  defects. 
When  horses  are  being  tried,  it  is  no  uncommon  occur- 
rence to  see  an  animal  brought  out  with  a  little  enlarge- 
ment upon  some  part  of  him.  He  is  instantly  rejected, 
with, — " I  can  never  think  of  having  that!"  Another 
is  brought  forward  that  has  some  other  trifling  ailment, 
and  he  is  sent  back  with  the  remark,  "  Put  him  in;  that's 
quite  enough!  "  A  useless  one  may,  probably,  be  brought 


HOW  TO   BUY  AtfD   SELL.  67 

forward  next.  He  is  sound,  because  there  is  not  even  a 
bump,  speck,  spot,  or  blemish  upon  him !  He  is  accepted 
with — "That  will  do."  The  secret  why  such  an  one  is  so 
purchasable  has  to  be  learned.  It  is,  however,  most  fre- 
quently the  case  that  the  horse  has  no  pluck,  or  is  too 
weak  to  hurt  his  limbs.  He  can  never  do  a  day's  work, 
and  costs  more  for  nursing,  petting,  and  physicking, 
than  it  would  take  to  keep  two  useful  ones;  yet  the  latter 
are  always  "ready."  For  this  reason,  we  must  have  a 
distinct  class  of  horses:  the  second-hand  horses,  or  the 
"  used  ones,"  as  they  are  generally  called, — and  these 
should  be  warranted  as  "  used  horses," — that  is,  as  show- 
ing some  signs  of  having  done  work.  They  will,  how- 
ever, be  treated  upon,  and  more  particularly  described, 
in  another  part  of  this  work. 


WIHD-SUCKIKG. 

This  habiu  is  somewhat  similar  to  crib-biting,  except 
that  the  horse  does  not  take  hold  of  anything,  and  that 
the  noise  frequently  differs  slightly.  It  is  a  species  of 
crib-biting,  and  is  more  difficult  to  cure,  as  the  horse  is 
out  of  condition  when  it  is  addicted  to  wind-sucking. 
The  muzzle  is  of  no  use  in  this  case,  and  to  effect  a  cure 
the  same  discipline  must  be  observed  as  that  recommend- 
ed for  crib-biting.  Sometimes  crib-biting  degenerates  into 
wind-sucking,  which  latter  disease  is  caused  by  rubbing 
over  the  manger  filthy  and  greasy  messes,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  horse  from  biting  the  wood.  The  disease  of 
wind-sucking  renders  the  horse  UNSOUND. 


WEAVING. 

Weaving  is  a  habit  of  moving  from  side  to  side  in  the 
stall,  something  in  the  manner  of  a  weaver's  shuttle,  but 


68  THE   HOKSE. 

really  more  like  the  restless  habits  of  confined  animals  in 
a  menagerie.  Weaving  is  generally  contracted  through 
idleness,  and  is  frequently  learnt  on  board  ship.  Weav- 
ers are  mostly  nervous  horses,  full  of  energy,  good  work- 
ers, and  SOUND. 


TO  CUKE   WEAVING. 


The  same  steps  may  be  taken  to  cure  weaving,  as  are 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  article :  in  addition,  it  is  well 
to  fasten  the  horse  with  two  pillar  reins  attached  respec- 
tively to  each  side  of  the  halter,  and  tight  enough  to  pre- 
vent him  from  swinging  or  swaying. 


DULLNESS. 

Having  examined  the  more  general  reasons  for  reject- 
ing horses  at  sale,  we  have  now  to  consider  causes  of  sec- 
ondary importance,  yet  such  as  must  receive  attention. 

The  nostril  is  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the 
horse  to  be  attended  to:  it  is  much  overlooked.  There 
are  many  horses  that  are  called  dull,  sorry  jades,  who 
will  be  found  to  go  for  a  short  distance  good-humoredly 
and  at  a  good  pace,  and  then  draw  in,  bearing  a  severe  pun- 
ishment rather  than  improve  their  pace.  "  What  a  dull, 
lazy  brute  it  is ! "  cries  its  owner,  but  in  reality  he  is 
neither  dull  nor  lazy.  The  cause  of  his  difficulty  lies  in 
the  smallness  of  his  nostril,  which  is  not  sufficiently 
large  to  permit  enough  air  to  pass  up  for  purifying  the 
blood  as  it  passes  through  the  animal's  lungs.  The  con- 
sequence is,  that  with  every  increase  of  speed  the  animal 
suffers  acute  pain.  This  too  small  nostril  is  the  cause  of 
slowness  or  dullness  in  all  inferiorly-bred  horses. 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  69 

"Where  horses  are  well-bred,  dullness  is  more  likely  to 
arise  from  a  contraction  of  the  bones  than  from  a  diminu- 
tive nostril. 

Where  speed  and  continuous  labor,  therefore,  are  re- 
quired, the  above  two  provocations  to  dullness  should  be 
well  looked  into:  even  in  thorough-bred  horses  we  find 
some  imperfection  or  other;  and  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  a  horse  falling  short  of  qualities  sufficient  for 
making  him  a  first-rate  racer,  may  make  a  good  country 
hunter,  or  hackijey.  For  the  hundredth  time  I  say — 
Adapt  a  horse  to  the  work  best  suited  to  his  condition, 
and  all  will  be  well.  Of  course  this  plan  will  sometimes 
alter  a  horse's  class,  but,  being  equal  to  the  work  of  the 
class  into  which  he  is  drafted,  he  is  SOUND. 

Where  disease  creates  dullness,  he  is 


MALFORMATIONS. 

Malformations  are  not  an  unsoundness  unless  the  horse 
is  diseased  or  lame,  or  is  prevented  from  doing  the  work 
of  the  class  to  which  he  belongs. 

Where  there  is  any  doubt  of  the  horse's  ability  to  stand 
the  work  of  his  class  upon  the  supposition  that  the  af- 
fected part  has  not  been  permanently  healed,  the  buyer  is 
naturally  anxious  to  try  the  horse  before  he  purchases 
it.  Now,  as  there  seems  to  be  very  absurd  ideas  enter- 
tained by  many  persons  as  to  what  may  be  done  with 
horses  on  trial,  and  as  the  subject  is  of  much  importance 
to  both  buyer  and  seller,  perhaps  I  cannot  do  better  than 
devote  some  space  to  it. 


THE   TEIAL. 


Having  satisfied  yourself  upon  the  general  merits  of  the 
horse,  try  him,  and,  whilst  trying  him,  use  him  fairly, 


70  THE  HOESE. 

according  to  the  treatment  to  which  horses  of  his  class 
and  condition  are  subjected.  Thus,  suppose  you  are  in 
want  of  a  horse  able  to  trot  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and 
upon  trial  of  one  you  put  him  to  that  pace  without  the 
consent  of  the  owner,  in  such  case,  should  any  accident 
or  subsequent  illness  occur  or  be  presumed  to  occur  to  the 
horse  as  the  result  of  the  trial,  you  may  be  made  to  take 
him  at  the  price  agreed  upon  before  starting  (and  a  price 
should  be  always  agreed  upon),  or  you  may  be  made  to 
pay  the  damage  done  to  him,  should  the  owner  feel  dis- 
posed to  compel  you  so  to  do.  It  may  seem  inconsistent 
that  you  should  not  be  permitted  to  risk  accidents,  with 
penalty  for  their  occurrence,  by  trying  a  horse  at  the  full 
speed  he  should  go  as  one  of  his  class;  but  as  there  may 
be  so  many  interpretations  put  upon  what  is  a  just  and 
what  an  unjust  trial,  it  is  best  to  have  with  you  at  the 
time  the  owner  or  his  agent;  for  if  you  took  the  horse 
further  than  you  were  authorized  to  do  by  the  owner,  if 
you  drove  it  faster,  or  took  it  over  a  different  road  than 
the  one  stipulated,  and  did  this  in  the  absence  of  the 
owner  or  his  representative,  you  would  have  to  pay  the 
cost  of  any  damage  done  to  the  animal;  but  not  so  if  the 
owner  were  with  you,  and  he  made  no  objection  to  your 
methods  of  operation. 

Again,  if  you  state  that  you  want  a  saddle-horse,  and 
receive  such  an  one,  but  instead  of  using  him  for  the  sad- 
dle, you  try  him  in  harness;  for  any  accidents  accruing 
therefrom  you  will  be  liable;  so  that  if  you  only  mark  him 
with  the  collar,  or  in  any  other  trifling  way,  nay,  should 
you  rub  off  a  few  hairs  so  as  to  interfere  with  the  imme- 
diate sale  of  the  horse,  or  depreciate  his  price,  the  owner 
can  insist  upon  your  taking  him  off  his  hands  or  paying 
for  the  injury  done. 

If  you  want  a  saddle  horse,  and  try  him  as  you  would  a 
hnnter,  then  are  you  liable  for  accidents,  although  they 
may  occur  at  another  part  of  the  trial,  because  it  may  be 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  71 

that  the  improper  exertion  to  which  he  has  been  sub- 
jected may  have  conduced  to  the  accident. 

A  particular  condition,  to  be  acquired  only  by  a  cer- 
tain treatment  or  training,  will  enable  the  horse  to  ac- 
complish any  extraordinary  work,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
racer,  the  hunter,  and  the  trotter.  But  the  further  re- 
moved he  is  from  his  legitimate  work,  so  much  greater 
is  the  chance  of  the  animal's  being  ruined,  even  when  ex- 
ercised for  a  short  time  only.  You  should  also  bear  in 
mind  that  horses  for  sale  are  generally  in  the  very  worst 
possible  condition  to  bear  fatigue:  they  are  got  up  to 
catch  the  eye  and  are  made  as  soft  and  sleek  as  possible. 
In  the  "selling  state"  they  are,  so  to  speak,  all  fat;  in 
their  "trained  state,"  all  muscle.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
many  horse-buyers  that  horses  should  always  be  in  a 
"trained  condition;"  but  the  simple  and  ordinary  re- 
quirements of  commercial  transactions  render  this,  gener- 
ally, impossible.  The  trotter  is  the  horse  kept  nearest 
this  state  of  training,  being  mostly  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  possess  only  one  horse,  and  who  are  consequently 
always  putting  their  animal  to  the  trial.  A  really  sound 
trotter  is,  therefore,  a  most  uncommon  thing:  the  excep- 
tions must  be  sought  in  those  studs  where  trotters  are 
kept  only  as  match  horses  and  for  short  distances.  Trot- 
ters are  of  all  horses  the  most  tried — the  most  overtried. 
Many  indifferent  horsemen  would  have  no  hesitation  at 
driving  the  trotter,  but  they  would  as  soon  attempt  to  fly 
as  to  mount  the  racer. 

Neither  extreme  is  good.  Horses  should  not  be  too 
much  worn  when  sold,  and  they  certainly  should  not  be 
got  up  to  such  a  pitch  of  sleekness  and  delicacy  that 
attacks  of  inflammation  or  other  diseases  would  be  at- 
tended by  more  than  ordinary  danger  to  the  animal. 
Dealers  of  course  would  prefer  keeping  their  horses  in  a 
more  rugged  and  vigorous  condition,  but  hitherto  buy- 
ers have  looked  at  horses  as  butchers  do  at  oxen,  and  val- 


72  THE   HOKSE. 

ued  them  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  fat  they  carry. 
Of  course  this  is  an  error;  but  improvement  is  beginning, 
for  the  dealers  in  live  meat  do  certainly  look  for  many 
things  now  besides  fat,  and  they  are  right. 

Perhaps  this  place  is  as  good  as  any  other  to  remark 
upon  the  absurdity  of  buying  an  animal  that  had  once 
in  his  life  performed  a  particular  feat,  instead  of  seeking 
to  possess  horses  of  capacity  for  general  usefulness.  As 
well  accept  for  man-servant  a  decrepid  old  man  who  once 
in  his  life  was  most  active  and  had  done  the  state  some 
service.  Choose  a  horse,  as  you  would  a  man,  for  his 
ability  and  willingness;  then  husband  his  resources,  and 
you  may  have  a  good  and  faithful  servant  for  many  years. 


SUEFEIT. 

Should  surfeit  amount  to  more  than  a  few  spots  upon 
the  outside  of  the  quarters,  particularly  the  hind  quar- 
ters, it  is  of  little  consequence.  If  you  are  desirous  of  hav- 
ing the  horse,  but  from  the  number  of  spots  upon  him 
you  apprehend  farcy,  it  will  be  advisable  in  making  the 
bargain  to  stipulate  for  a  cure  of  the  disease  within  a 
fortnight.  With  proper  treatment,  the  mere  surfeit 
may  be  cured  in  that  time.  Until  cured,  however,  the 
horse  is  UNSOUND. 


BLEEDING. 

Accepting  the  definition  of  soundness  that  it  is  perfect 
health,  whilst  every  deviation  is  indicative  of  unsound- 
ness,  then  the  simple  necessity  for  drawing  blood  renders 
the  horse  unsound,  and  consequently,  until  the  orifice 
made  by  the  lancet  is  healed,  he  is  UNSOUND. 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND   SELL.  73 

MEDICINE. 


To  require  a  dose  of  medicine  is  an  UNSOUNDNESS; 
therefore,  as  in  the  case  last  mentioned,  until  the  effects 
of  the  medicine  are  removed,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 


DIET  AND  EXERCISE. 


Requiring  a  particular  treatment  of  either  diet  or  ex- 
ercise— a  treatment  widely  different  from  that  which  is 
ordinarily  adopted — is  a  deviation  from  soundness. 


After  studying  the  preceding  part  of  this  book,  more 
particularly  the  contents  of  the  three  last  paragraphs, 
the  question  may  naturally  arise — "How  is  it  possible 
that  dealers'  horses  pass  at  all;  for,  certainly  in  the  case 
of  high-priced  horses,  attention  must  be  paid  to  every 
little  nicety  with  a  view  towards  securing  sound  animals?  " 
It  is  just  this,  that  as  the  buyer  compels  the  vendor  to 
keep  his  horses  in  a  state  so  highly  "  finished,"  the  buyer 
must  make  allowances  or  he  will  never  effect  a  purchase. 

If  a  horse  is  capable  of  undergoing  the  trial  as  well  as 
other  horses  in  the  same  adipose  state,  being,  in  all  other 
respects,  just  as  he  should  be  according  to  the  rules  laid 
down  in  this  work,  then  he  is  SOUND. 

Nobody  but  the  purchaser  is  to  blame  for  a  horse, 
with  no  one  perceptible  defect,  having  around  it  as 
it  were  an  atmosphere  of  doubt  and  uncertainty;  but 
where  he  does  not  mean  to  put  the  horse  immediately  to 
work,  but  intends  to  bring  him  to  it  properly  by  degrees, 
the  animal  will  not  suffer.  But  if  horses  newly  pur- 
4 


74  THE   HORSE. 

chased  from  the  dealer's  hands  are  at  once  put  to  work 
without  due  consideration,  some  severe  disease  often  ac- 
crues, which,  if  it  does  not  kill  them  off,  may  render 
them  cripples  for  life.  When  this  really  occurs — and  it 
is  by  no  means  unfrequent,  the  purchaser  blames  the 
vendor,  who  does  not  deserve  it.  because,  were  he  not  to 
keep  his  horses  in  the  finest  possible  condition,  he  could 
not  command  a  high  price  for  them.  This  accounts  for 
the  general  complaint  of  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  good 
saddle  horses. 


SADDLE   HORSES. 

To  make  a  good  saddle  horse'  is  a  work  of  time,  and 
during  the  process  of  training  he  must  be  ridden  by  good 
horsemen  who  know  what  they  are  about.  To  break  him 
in  well,  you  will  subject  him  to  many  little  accidents; 
and  certain  little  things,  the  result  of  the  exercise,  will 
be  sure  to  make  their  appearance,  which  will  be  construed 
to  be  the  result  of  work.  Over-fastidious  buyers  will  often 
be  thus  deceived,  and  reject  a  well-trained  saddle'  horse 
for  a  sleeker  animal  whose  action  is  not  set.  Therefore 
let  it  be  noted  as  a  fact,  that  until  certain  crotchets  and 
fancied  imperfections  are  overlooked,  and  are  no  longer 
bugbears,  we  shall  want  good  saddle  horses.  Those 
who  are  fortunate  enough  to  possess  such  a  treasure 
will  not  part  with  it  until  it  is  fairly  worn  out;  nor 
would  a  dealer  be  at  the  trouble  of  producing  another, 
unless  he  could  insure  for  it  a  price  commensurate  with 
the  pains  required  for  the  operation. 

It  is  a  common  complaint  that  the  horses  of  the  pres- 
ent day  do  not  lift  their  feet  sufficiently  high,  in  the 
same  way  that  they  did  when  saddle  horses  were  more  per- 
fect, this  fault  in  them  being  erroneously  attributed  to 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND   SELL.  75 

their  breed.  The  thorough-bred  horse  may  oe  taught  to 
lift  his  leg  as  high  and  bend  his  knee  as  well  as  any 
other,  even  after  he  has  been  trained  for  racing;  and  he 
then  is  better  than  the  old-fashioned  saddle  horse,  be- 
cause safer  and  easier,  and  his  breed  renders  him  capable 
of  doing  more  work. 


HUNTERS. 

After  reading  the  above  remarks  upon  saddle  horses, 
you  may  naturally  ask,  How  is  it,  then,  that  we  have  good 
hunters  now  in  some  portions  of  the  country?  It  is 
because  known  hunters  are  seldom  offered  for  sale  in  a 
pursy  state;  or,  if  they  are  in  such  a  condition  at  any 
time,  they  undergo  a  thorough  training  before  they  are 
set  to  work.  The  remark  also  applies  to  young  horses 
that  are  bought  for  the  purpose  of  making  hunters:  it 
would  indeed  be  a  raw  hand  that  would  take  a  fat  hunter 
into  the  field. 

Again,  hunters  are  known,  and  exchange  hands  upon 
their  merits.  Who  ever  refused  the  best  horse  in  the  hunt 
because  he  had  windgalls,  enlarged  hocks,  or  any  of  the 
thousand  and  one  objections  made  to  other  and  unknown 
horses?  If  the  hunter  is  capable  of  performing  cleverly 
the  various  standard  feats  of  the  hunting-field,  many  an 
imperfect  piece  of  his  symmetry  is  overlooked. 

" Besides,"  remarks  some  one,  "broken  knees  in  the 
hunter  are  not  of  any  consequence."  From  this  I  beg  to 
dissent.  Of  all  the  horses  I  should  least  like  the  hunter 
to  be  a  tumble-down,  and  for  this  good  reason: — the 
shoulders  of  the  tumble-down  are  upright,  so  that  at  par- 
ticular leaps  he  can  not  extend  his  fore-legs  sufficiently 
to  come  down  on  his  fore-feet,  and  most  likely  when  he 
thus  over-jumps  himself,  he  comes  down  head  first.  I 
am  confident  there  never  was  an  instance  of  the 


76  THE   HORSE. 

rider  being  killed  by  his  horse  rolling  heels  over  head 
upon  him  unless  that  horse  were  upright  in  his  shoulders. 
Although  I  hate  any  horse  approaching  to  a  tumble- 
down for  any  purpose  whatever,  I  should  prefer  that  a 
saddle  horse  should  fall  with  me  on  the  road,  though  he 
should  cut  himself  to  pieces,  rather  than  I  would  risk 
leaping  with  an  upright-shouldered  hunter.  In  severe 
leaps  there  is  more  force  required  than  in  ordinary  riding, 
and  therefore  the  obliquity  is  more  needed.  But  I 
would  rather  avoid  both.  I  hate  the  action  of  these 
horses. 


VICES. 

In  speaking  of  the  vices  of  horses,  we  must  first  observe 
that  a  warranty  of  soundness  does  not  infer  that  the 
horse  is  free  from  vice,  unless  such  be  particularly 
expressed.  Next,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  a  very 
vicious  horse  may  be  a  very  sound  one,  and  that,  too, 
because  perhaps  on  account  of  his  bad  habits  his  owners 
may  have  been  afraid  of  using  him. 

Vice  may  be  either  that  which  is  dangerous  to  those 
who  have  to  do  with  the  animal,  being  confined  to  either 
the  stable,  to  the  work  generally,  or  to  only  one  partic- 
ular kind  of  work;  or  it  may  be  of  a  nature  to  effect  only 
the  horse  himself,  or  his  master  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view,  by  lessening  the  value.  Of  such  last  may  be  men- 
tioned wind-suckers,  crib-biters,  weavers,  horses  having 
a  determined  trick  of  getting  loose  in  the  stable,  (although 
there  may  be  a  certain  degree  of  innocence  in  their  mis- 
chief,) for  they  may  be  the  cause  of  injury  to  themselves 
or  others. 

Kicking  one  another,  or  at  people,  either  in  their  work 
or  at  any  other  time,  if  with  ill  nature,  is  a  VICE. 

Biting  one  another,  or  those  about  them,  unless  in 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  77 

play,  or  whatever  trick  tends  to  the  injury  of  themselves 
or  others,  is  a  VICE. 

In  the  first  or  most  serious  class  of  vices  may  be 
enumerated — kicking  and  biting  in  or  out  of  the  stable; 
kicking  at  the  leg  of  the  rider  or  driver,  either  when 
mounting  into  the  saddle  or  at  any  other  time;  or  rearing, 
or  running  away,  or  rubbing  the  rider's  leg  against 
anything,  or  lying  down  when  wanted  to  proceed, 
or  falling  on  the  side,  or  stopping  suddenly  when  in  a 
fast  pace,  or  violently  insisting  upon  going  to  any  place 
that  the  horse  happens  to  have  been  at  before.  Jibbing, 
or  refusing  to  proceed,  is  a  vice:  so  is  backing 
against  the  owner's  will,  or  turning  round  with  violence 
when  not  required  so  to  do,  unless  this  results  from  mis- 
management of  the  user.  A  refusal  to  stand  still  in  order 
to  be  mounted,  if  from  ill  nature,  may  be  classed  under 
this  head.  Bucking  or  raising  the  back  when  mounted, 
and  then  putting  the  head  between  the  fore-legs  and  jump- 
ing, is  a  disagreeable  and  dangerous  vice;  so  is  the  trick 
of  swelling  out  the  body  till  either  the  girths  or  straps  to 
which  they  are  buckled  give  way.  If  horses  are  guilty  of 
any  of  the  vices  here  enumerated  and  have  been  sold  as 
well-broken  horses,  warranted  free  from  vice,  they  are 
returnable.  The  half-broken  colt  may  be  guilty  of  some 
of  these  habits  without  being  vicious;  but  thenceforth 
it  depends  upon  the  way  of  procedure. 

This  being  merely  a  catalogue  of  vices,  some  of  them 
will  be  more  particularly  described  under  their  respective 
headings,  together  with  their  causes,  effects,  and  reme- 
dies, in  order  that  buyers  may  know  where  certain  vices 
are  barred,  or  whether  they  amount  to  a  reason  for  the 
total  rejection  of  the  horse  or  not. 

Should  you,  however,  put  a  horse  into  harness  without 
having  a  guarantee  that  he  is  quiet  to  drive,  and  he  then 
proves  guilty  of  one  or  more  of  the  active  vices,  you 
cannot  return  him. 


78  THE   HORSE. 

( Warranted  quiet  in  harness"  bars  all  injurious  vices 
affecting  that  particular  work.  There  is  one  vice,  how- 
ever, said  to  be  questionable,  although  I  doubt  it;  that 
is  "  jibbing,"  or  refusing  to  move  when  required  to  do  so. 
But  where  the  horse  runs  back,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
about  the  vice  proving  dangerous  and  a  bar  to  a  perfect 
warranty.  Lying  down,  another  trick  of  a  jibber,  is  also 
a  dangerous  vice,  if  only  on  account  of  the  shafts,  inde- 
pendently of  other  and  personal  risks.  Also,  where  the 
horse,  after  standing  awhile,  goes  off  with  a  violent  rush, 
rear,  or  plunge,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  danger 
(except  in  skillful  hands),-  or  of  the  vice.  This  also 
requires  some  qualification,  as  a  mere  jump,  lift,  or  start 
at  a  canter  may  be  magnified  by  the  timid.  Again,  it  is 
a  query  whether  it  is  not  the  coachman,  rather  than  the 
horse,  that  is  in  fault;  and  in  the  former  case  the  horse 
is  not  do  be  held  to  be  vicious. 

A  horse  may  be  quiet  in  harness,  yet  very  vicious  and 
dangerous  out  of  it,  either  in  the  stable  or  to  ride. 
These  are  not  included  in  a  warranty  of  "  quiet  in  har- 
ness," because  in  the  last  two  cases  he  is  out  of  the  har- 
ness. "Free  from  vice,"  added  to  "  quiet  in  harness," 
signifies  that  the  animal  is  also  quiet  in  the  stable.  He 
may,  however,  be  vicious  to  ride,  so  that  where  he  is 
wanted  for  this  purpose  also,  "  to  ride  "  must  be  added 
in  the  warranty,  as  the  seller  may  contend  that  he  sold 
him  for  harness  only. 

The  receipts  hereafter  given  will  show  how  all  these 
difficulties  may  be  overcome. 

A  simple  warranty  of  soundness  does  not  necessarily 
imply  quietness.  A  horse  may  be  as  vicious  as  possible, 
so  much  so  as  to  become  almost  useless,  and  at  the  same 
time  not  render  himself  returnable.  "Free  from  vice  or 
any  general  inclination  to  do  mischief,"  alludes  to  the 
stable  as  well  as  to  the  work  of  the  horse.  Still  he  may 
not  be  well  broken,  as  this  does  not  imply  that  he  is  so  or 


HOW  TO  BUY  A1STD   SELL.  79 

otherwise;  therefore,  the  being  thus  untutored  would  not 
make  him  returnable.  But,  if,  though  unbroken,  he  has 
acquired  bad  tricks  or  vices,  he  is  returnable.  Add 
"quiet  to  ride,"  and  he  must  perform  this.  He  may, 
nevertheless,  not  be  broken  further  than  just  to  "  back," 
as  it  is  termed — that  is,  to  allow  any  one  to  be  upon  his 
back  with  the  saddle  while  he  carries  him  about.  The 
phrase,  a  "good  back,"  "good  hunter,"  "ladies'  horse," 
"menage,"  or  "quiet  in  harness,"  or  for  whatever  other 
purpose  he  may  be  required,  should  be  specified.  As  an 
assistance,  I  give  a  few  forms  of  receipt,  which  may  be 
easily  adapted  to  suit  any  purpose  required. 


RECEIPTS  ON  WARRANTIES. 

May,  18—. 

Eeceived  of  ,  for  a  gelding, 

warranted  sound,  free  from  vice,  and  quiet  to  ride  or 
drive,  five  hundred  dollars. — A.  B. 

N".  B. — This  includes  the  commonest  purpose,  with 
quietness  both  within  and  without  doors;  also  soundness. 
Any  qualification  may  be  left  out  or  added;  as  for 
example: — 

June,  18 — . 

Received  of  ,  two  hundred 

dollars,  for  a  chestnut  mare,  warranted  sound,  with  the 
exception  of  a  slightly  enlarged  hock — quiet  to  ride. — B.  0. 

The  hock  being  the  only  exception,  should  there  be  any- 
other  unsoundness,  the  purchaser  can  return  the  horse; 
but  not  for  vice,  as  that  is  not  mentioned;  neither  is 
harness-work.  Both  of  these,  therefore,  are  at  the 
buyer's  risk. 

July,  18—. 

Received  of  ,  three  hundred 

dollars,  for  a  brown  horse,  warranted  sound,  with  the 


80  THE   HORSE. 

exception  of  an  enlargement  at  the  back  of  the  near  hock, 
on  which  he  goes  at  present  free  from  lameness.  A  good 
hunter.  C.  D. 

Any  other  unsoundness  vitiates  this  warranty;  or  if  it 
can  be  proved  that  he  went  lame  on  the  excepted  hock  at 
the  time  of  trial,  he  is  returnable.  Here  he  is  only  for  one 
purpose,  and  may  not  be  worth  anything  for  any  other 
work.  But  if  he  fulfills  the  warranty  by  being  a  good 
hunter,  he  does  all  that  can  be  naturally  expected  of  him. 
Good  hunters  are  often  useless  for  hackney- work. 

August,  18 — . 

Eeceived  of  ,  two  hundred  dollars,  for 

a  gray  gelding,  warranted  sound,  with  the  exception  of 

,  and  upon  which  I  warrant  he 
has  gone  sound  from  to 

and  up  to  the  time  of  my  giving  this  receipt.  He  is  quiet 
in  harness  and  a  good  hackney.  D.  E. 

Here  the  warranty,  as  far  as  the  doubtful  part,  runs 
back  to  given  time — upon  the  length  of  time  that  the 
horse  has  gone  free  from  inconvenience,  and  you  place 
your  reliance  upon  his  continuing  to  do  so.  If,  therefore, 
you  find  that  he  has  been  lame  on  the  excepted  part  with- 
in the  period  named,  he  is  returnable,  but  not  otherwise 
— this  defect  of  lameness  having  been  particularly  speci- 
fied in  the  warranty. 

It  will  be  readily  perceived  that  any  particular  vice, 
vices,  or  defects,  whether  of  eyes,  limbs,  wind,  etc.,  etc., 
may  be  thus  excepted;  therefore,  one  more  example  will 
suffice. 

September,  18 — . 

Eeceived  of  ,  the  sum  of 

dollars,  for  a  black  horse,  sixteen  hands 
high,  warranted  sound,  with  the  exception  of  an  enlarge- 
ment on  the  off  forefoot,  but  upon  which  he  has  gone 
sound  during  the  whole  of  the  last  three  months,  since  its 
formation.  He  is  six  years  old. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   S 
HEIGHT  AND   AGE. 

The  last  form  is  also  a  warranty  of  age — that  he  is  past 
his  fifth  and  not  yet  in  his  seventh  year;  for  horses  never 
alter  less  than  one  year  at  a  time.  If  you  can  prove  he 
has  not  arrived  at  his  sixth  year,  or  that  he  has  entered 
his  seventh,  you  can,  if  you  are  so  disposed,  return  the 
horse. 

You  will  perceive  that  this  last  receipt  is  for  a  horse — 
meaning  thereby  an  entire  one — neither  gelding  nor 
mare.  His  height  is  also  mentioned;  but  if  you  have  any 
particular  reason  for  stating  his  exact  height,  it  must  be 
on  the  special  warranty  placed  after  the  word  "  height," 
and  not  before  it,  or  it  will  be  presumed  that  you  might 
have  had  him  measured  at  the  time  of  purchase.  In 
order  to  avoid  quibbling,  it  is  the  best  way,  where  a  given 
height  is  required,  to  put  the  horse  under  the  standard. 
Even  then  there  is  much  sleight  of  hand  going  on.  Strict 
attention  must,  therefore,  be  paid  if  you  are  in  any  way 
particular  to  an  inch.  From  the  foregoing  observations 
it  will  be  seen  that  a  simple  warranty — "  free  from  vice," 
applies  to  the  stable  only;  to  be  quiet  in  his  work,  and 
each  particular  kind  of  work,  must  be  specified,  as  in  the 
first  receipt. 


QUIET  IK   HARNESS. 

"Warranted  quiet  in  harness"  does  not  imply  the  long 
usage  of  a  horse  to  that  particular  kind  of  work,  or  that 
he  has  become  particularly  handy.  All  that  it  engages  is 
that  the  horse  has  been  used  sufficiently  to  prove  that 
any  coachman  of  tolerable  ability  may  drive  him  without 
accident.  Therefore,  after  buying  a  horse  thus  warrant- 
ed, before  you  put  yourself  to  any  expense  in  returning 
him  on  account  of  an  accident,  be  sure  the  accident  was 
not  caused  through  your  own  negligence.  A  little  negli- 


82  THE   HOKSE. 

gence  or  mismanagement  may  do  a  great  deal  of  mis- 
chief. Too  rough  a  hand  upon  a  sensitive  mouth,  or  a 
little  nervousness  or  improper  treatment  in  the  driving, 
or  inattention  to  the  harness,  may  be  all  the  fault,  and, 
after  being  put  to  great  expense  and  inconvenience,  you 
may  still  be  obliged  to  retain  the  horse,  as  all  those  things 
that  seemed  the  effect  of  vice  have  been  occasioned  by 
want  of  skill. 

A  chance  kick  or  rear,  if  merely  in  play,  as  is  gener- 
ally the  case  when  the  animal  is  too  fresh  or  in  the  habit 
of  looking  or  playing  on  seeing  certain  objects  (which 
some  would  term  shying),  is  not  a  vice,  and  does  not 
render  the.  horse  returnable,  where  it  can  be  proved  that 
he  was  in  a  good  humor  or  wanted  work.  Any  mischief 
that  might  result  would  be  at  the  risk  of  the  buyer.  But 
where  the  seller  allows  any  one  to  try  a  horse  in  harness, 
whilst  thus  too  fresh,  without  giving  a  caution,  all  mis- 
chief that  ensues  falls  upon  the  vendor's  shoulders. 
Where  this  caution  is  given,  he  must  either  be  a  very 
good  or  a  very  foolhardy  coachman  to  be  his  own  driver 
until  the  seller  has  driven  a  little  of  this  play  out  of 
him. 

SHYING. 

When  horses  shy,  it  is  either  from  unsoundness,  play, 
or  vice.  It  is  generally  occasioned  by  disease  in  the  eye: 
cataract  is  the  most  common.  Should  the  horse  start  at  a 
little  water  or  froth  lying  in  the  road,  you  may  almost 
depend  upon  this  disease  being  present,  even  though  it 
exists  in  the  shape  of  a  speck  no  bigger  than  a  pin's 
point.  After  cataracts  are  formed  in  the  eye,  that  part 
of  the  pupil  which  is  affected  becomes  opaque.  Cataracts 
vary  from  the  smallest  specks  to  the  obliteration  or  total 
opacity  of  the  pupil,  the  shying  increasing  up  to  the'  last 
stage  of  blindness.  Inflammation  or  cold  in  the  eye 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  83 

will  also  produce  shying.  Every  one  of  these  stages, 
from  the  slightest  inflammation  to  complete  blindness 
of  the  affected  eye  or  eyes,  makes  the  horse 

UNSOUND. 

When  there  is  no  inflammation  present,  the  various 
diseases  of  this  organ  are  easily  detected,  as  well  as  the 
injury  which  the  eyes  have  received  from  the  imflamma- 
tions  they  have  already  undergone;  but  as  this  is  only  to 
be  acquired  by  practice,  it  will  be  unnecessary  for  me  to 
occupy  further  space  in  attempting  to  explain  that  which 
would  not  assist  those  who  are  not  already  acquainted 
with  the  eye  under  all  circumstances.  I  would  merely  ob- 
serve, as  a  general  rule,  that  the  eyes  of  those  horses  most 
subject  to  disorder  appear  small,  and  the  upper  lid 
wrinkled:  they  are  termed  "  buck-eyed."  Every  stage 
of  shying  proceeding  from  disease  is  an 

UNSOUNDNESS. 

Not  so  where  it  is  a  matured  habit  produced  by  either 
a  nervous  or  brutal  user;  in  that  case  it  is  a  VICE. 

It  is  not,  however,  a  vice  till  it  becomes  a  confirmed 
habit,  because  if,  during  the  early  stages  the  horse  changes 
into  judicious  hands,  he  ceases  to  do  wrong. 

Patience,  and  care  in  riding  and  driving  will  soon  cure 
this. 

"When  the  horse  starts  or  plays  from  want  of  exercise, 
or  from  a  sudden  noise,  of  an  unusual  kind,  or  where  it 
arises  from  standing  in  a  dark  stable,  provided  that  the 
eyes  are  not  seriously  injured,  and  that  the  pupils  soon 
contract  from  the  dilatation  the  dark  has  occasioned  to 
their  natural  size,  he  is  free  from  vice  and  SOUND. 

To  keep  him  sound  the  purchaser  must  put  him  into  a 
lighter  stable,  when  his  eyes  will  keep  right,  and  he  will 
not  shy;  but  if  he  be  kept  in  the  -dark,  disease  will  soon 
follow,  and  the  animal  will  be,  consequently,  rendered 

UNSOUND. 

In  the  two  last  cases  the  horse  is  free  from  vice. 


84  THE  HORSE. 

Young  horses  occasionally  shy  from  having  chronic  di- 
latation of  the  pupils,  and  are  then  UNSOUND. 

But  where  such  dilatation  is  not  chronic,  as  shown 
above,  the  defect  is  soon  removed. 

Where  the  dilatation  is  the  natural  effect  of  age  alone,  if 
the  horse  merely  looks  or  glances  at  objects  without 
jumping  or  turning  so  as  to  occasion  inconvenience,  he 
is  SOUND. 

But  if  he  stops  suddenly,  jumps  to  one  side,  or  turns 
round  quickly,  whether  resulting  from  defective  sight, 
disease,  old  age,  or  any  combination  of  these  causes,  the 
horse  is  UNSOUND. 


STARTING. 

Starting  is  a  VICE. 

See  articles  on  "Shying"  and  " Bolting." 


BOLTING — RUNNING.  AWAY. 

Bolting,  or  running  away,  is  a  serious  VICE. 

This  does  not,  however,  apply  to  the  young  horse  when 
he  jumps  suddenly  at  any  object  that  appears  in  a  quiet 
by-road,  or  when  he  looks  curiously  at  anything  strange 
to  him;  he  may  even,  under  such  circumstances,  move 
over  askew  to  the  other  side  of  the  road,  but  this  must 
not  be  considered  to  be  a  vice.  Good  riding  is  all  that 
such  a  horse  requires. 

If  his  eyes  are  perfect,  he  is  SOUND. 


PLAT — PLAYFULNESS. 

Gamboling  and  good-humored  play,  resulting  from 
plenty  of  ease,  are  not  detrimental  to  the  horse's  value, 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  85 

and  they  are  easily  got  rid  of,  or,  at  the  least,  lessened  by 
a  little  exercise. 

They  may  be  considered  to  be,  generally,  a  proof  of  a 
strong  and  vigorous  state  of  health. 

A  true  horseman  does  not  think  any  the  worse  of  a 
horse  for  his  playfulness;  but  as  a  nervous  person  might 
be  alarmed  at  this  habit,  and  put  himself  to  some  ex- 
pense in  trying  to  effect  a  return  of  the  horse  to  the 
vendor,  it  is  well  to  add  that,  as  playfulness  is  not  a  vice, 
the  horse  is  not,  on  that  account,  returnable. 

Cut  such  a  temper  in  a  horse  as  is  decidedly  capricious 
or  mischievous  constitutes  a  VICE. 

The  act  of  a  horse  looking  slily  or  askance  at  any  ob- 
jects that  happen  to  catch  his  eye,  while  he  is  passing, 
must  not  be  mistaken  for  shying;  for  the  indecision  of 
the  rider's  hand  will  convey  a  feeling  of  fear  to  the  horse's 
mind  through  the  effect  of  the  bridle  upon  the  mouth, 
while  the  horse  will  frequently  anticipate  the  approach  of 
a  danger  which  is,  in  fact,  imaginary,  by  feeling  an  un-. 
due  pressure,  or  a  sudden  and  undecided  loosening  or 
tremulous  motion  of  the  rider's  legs  or  knees.  He  is, 
consequently,  suddenly  alarmed,  fancies  that  the  very 
first  object  which  he  meets  is  the  cause  of  the  supposed 
danger,  and  trie?  > ;  instinct  prompts  him,  to  avoid  it. 

If  a  horse  that  has  been  ridden  by  a  nervous  rider  for 
•a  few  times  only  be  taken  in  hand  by  a  thorough  and 
clever-handed  horseman,  it  will  be  found  that  he  will  re- 
cover his  self-confidence  in  a  very  few  days'  work.  It  is 
a  fault  of  greater  or  less  magnitude,  according  to  the  time 
that  may  be  required  for  its  eradication,  and  therefore, 
until  the  cure  be  effected,  and  it  be  certain  that  no  injury 
will  accrue  from  past  mismanagement,  such  a  fault  is  a 

VICE. 

The  horse  that  will  not  even  step  over  a  straw,  when 
ridden  by  an  undecided  and  hesitating  rider,  will  fre- 
quently take  any  leap  with  him  who  rides  with  a  cool  de- 


86  THE   HORSE. 

termination  and  a  steady  hand:  so  that,  when  the  horse 
has  contracted  no  permanent  habit,  but  shies  only  while 
he  is  ridden  in  a  nervous  manner,  as  the  fault  is  not  in 
the  horse,  but  in  the  master,  the  act  of  so  shying  does 
not  constitute  a  VICE. 

Vice  does  not  always  render  the  animal  returnable  to 
the  vendor.  If,  through  nervousness  or  any  fault  in 
management,  you  induce  the  horse  to  shy,  you  must  not, 
on  that  account,  attribute  any  blame  to  him;  and,  in 
order  to  enable  you  to  succeed  in  effecting  a  return  of 
the  animal,  you  must  be  in  a  position  to  prove  that  he 
was,  under  proper  management,  addicted  to  shying  pre- 
vious to  your  purchasing  him.  Facilis  decensus  averni  I 
Bad  habits  are  far  easier  to  inculcate  or  to  acquire  than 
good  ones. 

It  is  easy  to  sell  or  to  buy  a  horse,  be  he  good  or  bad, 
but  impossible  to  furnish,  or  acquire  suddenly,  the  art 
of  managing  him  properly. 

The  above  remarks  as  to  the  ease  with  which  a  horse 
contracts  a  habit  of  shying  apply  with  equal  force  to  all 
other  habits  which  may  be  induced  in  him,  either 
inside  or  outside  the  stable;  such  as  biting,  kicking, 
plunging,  jibbing,  savaging,  etc. 

SKITTISHNESS. 

Horses  that  are  highly  fed,  and  at  the  same  time  un- 
derworked, frequently  acquire  a  way  of  spasmodic  start- 
ing and  playfulness,  and  are  then  called  skittish;  such 
horses  being,  by  the  uninitiated,  not  uncommonly  called 
shiers.  As  the  skittishness  goes  off  on  the  horse  being  put 
to  serious  and  hard  work,  it  is  not  to  be  deemed  a  VICE. 


MEDICINE. 


A  dose  of  medicine  given  to  a  horse,  even  though  he 
require  it,  may  make  him  unsound,  until  the  physic  has 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND    SELL.  87 

ceased  to  affect  him.  Under  the  same  category  of  spe- 
cifics, I  must  include  training,  and  sweating  to  get  down 
some  of  the  superfluous  fat;  all  trainers,  however,  know 
that  these  processes  may  be  overdone.  Any  deviation 
from  health  is  an  UNSOUNDNESS. 

Until  the  effect  of  the  medicine  has  passed  off,  there 
is  such  a  deviation  from  health,  as  is  proved  by  the 
altered  pulse,  the  derangement  of  appetite,  and  general 
dullness.  Besides,  owing  to  the  great  susceptibility  of 
the  stomach  of  the  horse,  until  the  effect  has  ceased,  the 
ultimate  result  is  uncertain;  a  dose,  innocuous  to  one 
horse,  being  often  almost,  if  not  quite,  fatal  to  another. 

It  is  better  understood  now  than  it  was  formerly,  that, 
if  the  medicine,  in  proper  quantities  and  at  right  times, 
has  been  administered  to  the  horse,  either  to  qualify  him 
for  work  different  from  that  to  which  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed, or  to  restore  him  to  his  usual  condition;  as,  for 
instance,  on  his  return  from  grass,  or  on  the  commence- 
ment of  his  preparation  for  racing  or  hunting,  and,  if 
you  can  be  satisfied  that  the  dose  was  moderate,  not  in- 
jurious in  its  properties,  and  administered  to  the  horse 
at  the  time  when  he  was  in  a  proper  state  of  perpara- 
tion  to  receive  it,  there  is  no  great  risk  in  purchasing 
him.  I  should  not  have  gone  so  lengthily  into  the  sub- 
ject of  caution  requisite  in  these  cases,  were  it  not  that 
many  still  adhere  to  the  system  of  giving  a  ball  consist- 
ing of  calomel  (a  medicine  rarely  necessary),  and  other 
drugs  sufficient  to  ruin  all  the  horses  in  a  whole  troop 
of  cavalry. 

We  cannot  wonder,  when  we  recollect  the  preposterous 
doses  that  were  habitually  given  to  horses  a  few  years  ago, 
that  they  often  either  destroyed  the  poor  creatures,  or 
rendered  them  permanently  decrepit. 

It  does  not  occur  every  day  that  there  is  any  necessity 
to  buy  a  horse  when  still  under  the  effects  of  physic;  yet 
there  are  cases  when,  from  rivalry  among  those  who  know 


88  THE  HORSE. 

him,  anxiety  is  manifested  to  purchase  a  horse  who  would 
not,  under  other  circumstances,  be  or  be  likely  to  be  sold; 
and  in  such  instances  the  successful  competitor  runs  con- 
siderable risk. 

In  spite  of  the  unimportance  in  many  cases,  I  think 
it  right  to  show  what  dangers  and  chances  may  occa- 
sionally happen,  as  I  have  often  been  questioned  on  the 
subject. 

A  short  time  since,  two  gentlemen  were,  at  the  same 
time,  considering  about  buying  a  horse  that  was  just  then 
in  physic,  with  a  view  to  the  preparation  for  a  match  in 
which  he  was  engaged.  One  of  the  gentlemen  had  of- 
fered to  purchase  the  horse  as  soon  as  the  medicine  had 
worked  off:  the  other,  in  the  meantime,  consulted  me  as 
to  what  consequences  might  be  apprehended,-  and,  after 
I  had  examined  the  horse,  and  had  satisfied  myself  as  to 
his  appearance,  bought  the  horse,  much  to  the  chagrin 
of  his  more  cautious  rival. 


STRANGLES. 

It  is  frequently  a  matter  for  deliberation  whether  it 
would  be  advisable  to  buy  a  horse  laboring  under  stran- 
gles (in  whatever  stage  the  disease  may  happen  to  be),  or, 
in  some  cases,  whether  it  would  be  prudent  to  purchase  a 
horse  which,  though  not  actually  afflicted  with  this  dis- 
ease at  the  time,  yet  shows  symptoms  of  its  approach. 

In  aged  horses  the  appearance  of  strangles  must  be 
noted  with  some  suspicion,  as  the  horse  generally  has  the 
.disease  while  young,  and  very  rarely  more  than  once, 
while  the  older  horse  is  more  subject  to  glanders,  which 
is  sometimes  mistaken  for  strangles.  Strangles  may  so 
debilitate  an  old  horse  as  to  degenerate  into  glanders . 

Strangles  is  a  disease  which,  if  properly  attended  to  on 
its  first  appearance,  rarely  terminates  fatally  in  the  result 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  89 

denoted  by  the  name :  such  a  result  is  a  very  scarce  ex- 
ception to  the  general  rule — recovery. 

While  the  horse  is  under  the  influence  of  strangles,  he 
is  UNSOUND. 

In  order  to  prevent  mistakes,  it  would  be  an  improve- 
ment, where  there  is  the  least  suspicion  of  strangles, 
to  have  the  warranty  qualified  by  the  addition  of  the 
words,  "  Except  the  strangles." 

This  disease  is  curable  within  a  few  days;  it  rarely 
attacks  old  horses. 


COLDS. 

Cold  in  the  head,  of  long  standing,  may  be  mistaken 
by  those  not  conversant  with  the  disease,  for  strangles, 
while  it  is,  in  fact,  the  worse  of  the  two,  and  is  of  a  far 
more  serious  nature  than  most  people  imagine.  While 
the  comparatively  innocuous  disease,  strangles,  is  much 
dreaded,  cold,  until  it  shows  its  seriousness  by  extreme 
running,  is  thought  lightly  of. 

Cold,  if  long  neglected,  frequently  degenerates  into 
glanders;  in  any  case,  while  the  horse  is  suffering  from 
it,  he  is  UNSOUND. 


GLANDEES. 

Glanders,  which  bears  a  very  similar  appearance  to 
that  of  strangles,  is  a  complaint  of  the  very  worst 
character. 

Glanders  runs  for  years,  if  it  does  not,  in  the  interim, 
terminate  in  death. 

It  is  easily  communicated  either  by  inoculation  or 
imbibition;  its  contagiousness,  however,  is  very  doubtful, 
as  sound  horses  have  been  known  to  stand  for  years  in 
the  same  stables  with  glandered  ones  without  contracting 


90  THE  HOUSE. 

the  disease;  indeed,  sound  and  glandered  horses  have 
been  known  to  work  together  without  the  disease  being 
communicated. 

Common  causes  of  the  disease  are — overwork,  an 
insufficient  quantity  of  nutritious  food,  debility,  and 
foul,  close  stables. 

Where  the  precaution  laid  down  at  the  end  of  the  article 
on  "  Strangles  "  has  been  observed,  and  there  is  no  longer 
a  doubt  that  the  disease  is  of  a  more  serious  nature  than 
that  of  strangles,  the  horse  should  be  returned  to  the 
vendor,  the  chance  of  effecting  a  cure  being  very  small; 
besides,  there  is  danger  of  the  attendant  becoming  inoc- 
ulated, the  expense  of  promoting  the  cure  is  heavy,  and 
the  time  that  will  elapse  before  the  horse  is  sound  and  fit 
for  work  is  considerable. 

Glanders  is  seldom  accompanied  by  any  cough,  but  one 
nostril  is  generally,  in  the  early  stages,  affected,  there 
being  a  running  from  the  nose  of  a  glandered  horse  of  a 
more  glue-like  or  colloid  nature  than  that  in  strangles; 
and  it  is  useful  to  know  that  while  the  matter  that  runs 
from  the  nose  in  the  former  disease  sinks  in  water,  that 
which  flows  in  strangles  and  cold,  floats. 

Until  the  disease  has  made  some  progress,  the  horse 
appears  to  be  in  good  health,  and  his  eyes  bright  and 
clear;  but  it  is  prudent  not  to  place  too  much  reliance 
upon  this  absence  of  symptoms.  The  moment  that  you 
have  any  grounds  for  suspicion,  procure  a  donkey  or 
some  other  animal  of  little  value — even  a  rabbit — and  let 
him  be  inoculated  with  the  matter;  a  few  hours  will 
decide  whether  the  disease  is  or  is  not  present.  Should 
glanders  be  unmistakably  discovered,  the  sooner  both 
animals  are  destroyed  the  better. 

The  inoculation  of  the  donkey  with  the  suspicious 
matter  is  not  an  inhuman  act;  for  it  is  only  the  possible 
sacrifice  of  one  life,  to  insure  the  preservation  of  we  know 
not  how  many.  Even  the  lives  of  the  attendants  are  at 


HOW  TO   BUY    AND   SELL.        ,  ,   ^  t~™  r?  Y  PP 

'  &i  b  J,  T 

stake,  as  it  is  well  known  that  the  reception  of  glandered 
matter  in  the  slightest  scratch  or  abrasion  of  the  skin  fa-"- 
almost  certain  to  terminate  fatally. 

Although  the  difference  between  cold,  strangles,  and 
glanders  is  sufficiently  marked  to  be  generally  distin- 
guished, yet  no  description  of  them  will  render  it  safe  for 
the  uninitiated  to  decide  with  certainty  which  disease  it  is. 

The  best  plan  is  to  put  alone  by  themselves  all  horses 
afflicted  with  strangles  or  severe  cold  in  the  head,  par- 
ticularly if  they  have  been  recently  purchased;  this  will, 
at  all  events,  prevent  any  chance  of  glanders,  if  present, 
being  communicated  to  the  other  horses. 

It  is  hardly  necessa^r  to  add  that  a  glandered  horse  is 

UNSOUND. 


BASTAKD-STRANGLES,    OR  YIVES. 

When  a  horse  has  not  had  the  strangles  at  the  usual 
time,  that  is,  generally,  between  the  second  and  fourth 
year,  he  is  frequently  attacked  by  this  disease,  being  in 
fact  the  strangles  delayed  till  a  later  period  of  life  than 
usual:  Vives  really  meaning  a  revival  of  the  attack, 
which  is  frequently  called  by  old  farriers,  bastard- 
strangles,  or  vives,  and  which  is  a  more  obstinate  com- 
plaint than  true  strangles. 

Vives  is  not  often,  in  itself,  fatal,  nor  difficult  to  cure, 
if  attended  to  without  delay;  but,  if  neglected,  it  is  often 
followed  by  very  serious  results,  such  as  broken-wind,  or 
even  glanders;  it  is  originated  by  a  severe  cold  too  long 
neglected. 

The  accompanying  cough  is  more  violent  than  that  in 
strangles. 

A  horse  laboring  under  vives  or  bastard-strangles  is 

UNSOUND. 

Should  you  have  bought  the  horse  with  an  expressed 


92  THE   HOESE. 

understanding  that  the  disease  under  which  he  is  labor- 
ing was  the  strangles  only,  and  that  he  was,  in  other 
respects,  sound,  you  may  return  him  if  the  complaint  is 
found  to  be  the  vives,  on  the  score  of  his  not  fulfilling 
the  conditions  of  the  warranty. 


BEKT    BEFORE. 


When  the  fore-legs  of  the  horse  are  bent  forward  at 
the  knee,  he  is  said  to  be  bent  before:  this  may  proceed 
from  overwork,  or  from  pain  in  the  feet  resulting  from 
contraction,  inflammation,  etc.,  but  it  more  frequently 
proceeds  from  flat  feet.  In  these  cases,  the  animal  is 


"When  the  cause  does  not  consist  in  pain,  and  when  the 
deviation  from  the  natural  line  is  but  slight,  and  the 
horse  can  do  his  proper  work  without  inconvenience, 
even  then,  as  in  the  case  of  total  blindness,  the  defect 
may  be  visible,  but  he  is  SOUKD. 

When  'the  profile  of  the  fore-legs  has  a  deviation  of 
anything  more  than  the  very  slightest,  it  is  a  BLEMISH. 

You  must  not  be  talked  over  into  the  belief  that  the 
horse  was  deformed  to  this  extent  when  he  was  foaled,  and 
that  it  is  not,  therefore,  the  result  of  hard  work  or  mis- 
management, for  though  all  colts  are  foaled  crooked,  or 
bent  before,  they  remain  so  for  a  short  time  only. 

Bent-legged  horses  have  a  reputation  for  good  courage; 
if  they  are  bent  but  slightly,  they  are  frequently  safe  and 
good  saddle-horses.  They  are,  however,  best  adapted 
to  harness-work;  and,  when  much  bent,  should  be 
worked  in  double  harness,  so  that  they  may  be  free 
from  any  weight  on  the  back. 

UPEIGHT   SHOULDERS. 

Horses  may  be  sound  and  yet  unsafe  to  ride. 
Amongst  these  are  such  as  have  upright  shoulders, 
which  result  in  some  instances  from  bent  legs. 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND  SELL.  93 

Horses  of  this  kind  are  in  this  respect  perfectly  sound, 
as  much  as  the  blind  horse  is;  for  in  the  former,  as  well 
as  the  latter  case,  the  defect  is  plainly  visible.  Though 
a  very  upright-shouldered  horse  is  considered  unsound 
in  so  far  as  regards  his  capabilities  as  a  hunter,  he  is, 
nevertheless,  able  to  do  harness-work,  without  inconven- 
ience or  danger,  and,  as  long  as  he  is  kept  for  that  kind 
of  work  only,  is  SOUND. 

Many  writers  contend  that  upright  shoulders  are  neces- 
sary to  even  first-class  draught.  I  differ  from  them.  But 
the  horse  being  misplaced  does  not  render  him  unsound. 

In  thus  alluding  to  his  unfitness  for  hunting  purposes, 
I  take  an  extreme  of  upright  shoulders:  though  there  is 
danger  in  every  degree  of  this  make,  that  is,  in  every 
gradation,  from  the  oblique  or  perfect  contour,  down  to 
extreme  and  most  faulty  deformity. 

Therefore,  horses  with  upright  shoulders  are,  properly 
speaking,  suitable  for  harness-work  only;  the  nearer  the 
shoulders  approach  to  uprightness,  the  greater  is  the 
decrease  in  the  horse's  speed,  until  at  length  he  is  quali- 
fied for  slow  work  only;  so  long  as  he  has  speed  enough 
left  in  him  for  his  required  labor,  he  is  well  adapted  for 
double  harness  or  for  four-wheel  work,  as  there  is  then 
no  vertical  pressure  of  his  back. 

When  such  horses  fall  down,  which  they  are  almost 
certain  to  do  before  the  ninth  year,  if  working  fast,  and 
they  hurt  themselves  in  a  trifling  degree  only,  they  are, 
until  cured,  UNSOUND. 

Soundness  and  unsoundness,  subsequent  to  such  a  fall, 
depends  entirely  upon  the  extent  of  the  injury  received. 
See  the  article  on  "Broken  Knees." 

UPEIGHT  JOINTS — KNUCKLING. 

When  the  pastern- joint  of  one  or  both  of  the  fore-legs 
is  perpendicular  to  the  rest  of  the  leg,  instead  of  sloping 


94  THE   HOUSE. 

backwark,  if  this  defect  arise  from  work,  the  animal  is 


Such  a  deformity,  in  itself  a  serious  defect,  is  bad  also 
on  account  of  its  being  such  a  deviation  from  nature  as 
will  soon  render  the  horse  useless  from  the  lameness  re- 
sulting from  the  concussion  that  the  altered  struc- 
ture of  the  joints  permits.  Sometimes  this  knuckling 
is  produced  by  overwork  or  strains;  sometimes  by 
pumice  soles;  and  very  often  it  arises  from  navicular 
disease. 

Where  either  of  the  latter  two  exists,  the  disease  is,  of 
itself,  an  UNSOUNDNESS. 

With  the  hind-legs,  these  observations  do  not  hold  good  ; 
for  a  horse  may  be  quite  upright  in  the  joints  of  the  hind- 
legs,  and  yet  be  perfectly  SOUND. 

A  horse  in  this  case  is  almost  invariably  as  well  able 
as  any  other  to  do  his  work:  for  it  must  be  observed  that 
nature  often  makes  these  joints  much  more  upright  than 
those  of  the  fore-legs,  because  in  the  latter  a  greater  de- 
gree of  elasticity  is  required  to  break  concussion,  as  there 
is  greater  weight  borne  by  them  than  by  the  hmd  ones. 
The  rest  of  the  fore-leg  is,  of  necessity,  of  a  pillar-like 
form,  to  enable  it  to  support  the  weight  of  the  fore- 
quarters  in  action,  as  well  as  the  additional  weight  and 
concussion  produced  by  the  propeller-like  motion  of  the 
hind-legs,  and,  therefore,  the  foreleg  is  possessed  of  few  or 
no  spring  appliances  beyond  what  are  contained  in  the 
pastern  and  foot. 

The  loss  of  even  the  slightest  spring  which  is  condu- 
cive to  the  prevention  of  concussion  is,  evidently,  a 
serious  matter;  how  much  more  serious  must  be  the 
deprivation  of  this,  the  largest  and  most  important 
spring  of  all. 

As  the  hind-legs  have  not  the  weight  of  the  head  and 
neck  to  support,  they  are  not  required  to  be  upright  or 
column-like.  For  their  function  is  the  propelling  of  the 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  95 

body;  and,  with  a  view  to  effecting  this  with  speed,  they 
are  of  necessity  longer  than  the 'fore  ones. 

I  think  it  is  needless  for  me  to  enter  into  reasons  fur- 
ther than  to  say  that,  for  the  convenience  of  the  animal, 
and  with  a  view  to  his  adaptability  to  his  work,  his  hind- 
legs  are  bent,  and  therefore  full  of  springs,  which  render 
the  hind-feet  much  less  liable  to  the  many  diseases  to 
which  the  fore  ones  are  prone;  indeed,  so  rarely  are  the 
hind-feet  affected  by  navicular  disease,  pumice  sole,  or  the 
various  evils  resulting  from  concussion,  that,  when  such 
maladies  do  appear,  they  may  be  considered  as  extraor- 
dinary exceptions  to  the  rule. 

We  may  then  be  justified  in  saying  that  horses  do  not 
have  these  diseases  in  their  hind-feet,  and  that,  conse- 
quently, there  is  less  use  made  of  the  pastern  joints  here, 
than  in  the  fore-feet. 

If  the  knuckling  does  not  interfere  with  the  action  of 
the  horse  (however  unsightly  the  defect  may  be),  he  is 

SOUND. 

But  such  unsightliness  is  considered  to  be  a 

BLEMISH. 

When  the  uprightness  impedes  the  action  of  the  horse, 
or  renders  him  incapable  of  performing  the  work  due  from 
one  of  his  class,  he  is  UNSOUND. 


KNUCKLING. 

Though  uprightness  and  knuckling  are  frequently  used 
indiscriminately  for  the  same  fault,  some  persons  make 
the  distinction,  that  the  former  consists  in  perpendicu- 
larity, while  the  latter  implies  " bending  over"  at  the 
pastern-joint.  If  there  is  any  difference  between  the 
two,  knuckling  may  be  considered  to  be  the  more  ag- 
gravated form.  A  horse  that  knuckles  over  is 

UNSOUND. 


96  THE  HOKSE. 

ENLAKGED   JOINTS. 

Enlarged  joints,  resulting  from  blows,  sprains,  and 
wounds  on  the  pastern-joints  of  the  hind-legs,  are  gener- 
ally contracted  in  the  field,  and  are,  therefore,  most  com- 
mon in  hunters,  and  mostly  on  the  hind-legs,  the  proxi- 
mate cause  being  that  the  rider,  by  holding  on  by  the 
bridle  during  the  leap,  prevents  him  thereby  from  throw- 
ing up  his  legs  sufficiently  to  clear  the  fence. 

Those  horses  which  have  much  timber  or  wall-jumping 
to  do  are  the  most  subject  to  these  defects. 

If  there  is  no  raw  place,  but  a  scar  only;  if  the  skin  has 
completely  grown  over  the  injured  part;  and  if  the  en- 
largement has  arrived  at  its  full  size,  and  become  hard 
and  bony,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  horse's  action 
and  capacity  to  perform  his  usual  work,  he  may  he  held 
to  be  SOUND. 

The  enlargement  is  a  BLEMISH. 

See  the  article  on  "Spavins,"  "Curbs,"  etc. 

SOFT  ENLAKGEMENTS. 

During  the  formation  of  soft  enlargements,  and  until 
their  result  is  ascertained,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

If,  upon  their  being  fully  developed,  they  do  not  im- 
pede the  horse  in  the  execution  of  his  work,  he  is 

SOUND. 

But,  when  they  are  so  large  as  to  be  unsightly,  they 
are  BLEMISHES. 

See  articles  on  "  Windgalls,"  "  Thorough-pins/3  "Bog- 
spavin,"  "Curbs,"  and  "Spavins." 


LONG    PASTEENS. 


When  long  pasterns  do  not  impair  the  horse's  action,  by 
causing  weakness,  as  described  in  the  articles  "  Cutting  " 
and  "  Speedy-cut,"  he  is  SOUND. 


HOW   TO   BUT  AND   SELL.  97 

Long  pasterns,  except  when  they  are  extreme  for  the 
weight  or  work  required,  may  be  considered  an  advan- 
tage, as  they  are  easy  to  the  rider  and  prevent  concussion 
to  the  horse. 

If  the  length  of  the  pasterns  arises  from  the  rupture 
or  unnatural  elongation  of  the  tendon,  the  horse  is  then 
termed  "  broken  down,"  and  is  UNSOUND. 

When,  from  the  great  length  of  the  pastern,  the  horse 
is  incapable  of  doing  the  work  due  from  one  of  his  class, 
even  though  he  was  so  foaled,  he  must  be  considered 

UNSOUND. 

Very  long-pasterned  horses,  when  they  turn  out  their 
toes  considerably,  are  sometimes  called  "  Dancing- 
masters." 


BOOTS. 

Many  a  horse  is  unable  to  do  his  proper  work  without 
striking  one  leg  against  another;  this  fault  arises  either 
from  weakness  and  malformation,  or  from  the  horse  hav- 
ing, during  breaking,  been  allowed  to  acquire  a  crooked, 
slovenly  gait. 

Such  a  horse,  on  account  of  his  requiring  the  constant 
use  of  boots  to  prevent  injury  and  cutting  by  striking  his 
legs  together,  and  on  account  of  his  demanding  extra 
care,  is  UNSOUND. 

If  from  temporary  weakness,  or  from  leg-weariness 
caused  by  over-work  or  poverty  of  condition,  the  horse  has 
acquired  the  habit  of  cutting,  on  his  recovery  from  these 
ailments  he  may  be  deemed  to  be  SOUND. 


REARING. 

Eearing  is  a  habit  which  horses  acquire  from  their  being 
used  by  nervous  people,  and  by  those  who  through  ignor- 
5 


98  THE    HORSE. 

ance  of  their  real  danger  are  deceived  into  believing  them- 
selves good  horsemen.  Bearing  is  taught  by  violence  and 
by  the  improper  or  too  violent  use  of  sharp  bits.  The  use 
of  bits  of  this  character  often  destroys  the  original  cour- 
age of  the  horse,  and  renders  him  dangerous  and  good  for 
nothing.  Unlike  most  other  vices  of  the  horse,  that  of 
rearing  is  more  dangerous  to  deal  with  in  its  earlier 
stages  than  when  it  has  become  confirmed;  for,  in  the 
former  case,  the  horse  occasionally  overbalances  himself 
and  falls  upon  his  rider,  while,  in  the  latter,  past  experi- 
ence teaches  the  horse  to  retain  his  equilibrium,  although 
in  such  cases  he  does  sometimes  make  mistakes. 

No  nervous  person  should  attempt  to  use  a  rearing 
horse,  as  a  very  little  mismanagement  of  the  mouth  will 
produce  serious  consequences, — that  is  to  say,  an  inex- 
perienced or  careless  rider  may,  by  pulling  a  tight  rein 
when  he  should  give  a  loose  one,  throw  the  horse  over  on 
his  back. 
*  Bearing  is  not  easily  cured:  it  is  a  VICE. 


JIBBING. 

Horses  acquire  the  babit  of  jibbing,  by  being  misman- 
aged on  their  first  essay  in  harness.  They  should  then 
be  treated  with  the  greatest  patience,  however  much  time 
may  be  apparently  wasted  in  getting  them  to  start.  Jib- 
bing is  curable. 

The  single  jibber  is  not,  on  that  account,  dangerous, 
if  he  is  not  hurried,  but  is  allowed  to  make  his  own  start 
according  to  his  humor. 

Jibbing  is  dangerous,  when  the  horse  runs  backward 
instead  of  forward;  when  he  lies  down;  and  when,  at 
starting,  he  plunges  forward:  these  latter  three  cases  be- 
ing aggravated  forms  of  jibbing.  Every  form  of  jibbing 
is,  however,  a  VICE. 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  99 

BUNKING   AWAY   OR   BOLTING. 

Horses  addicted  to  running  away  are  decidedly  danger- 
ous, both  for  the  user  and  for  all  that  they  encounter. 
This  habit  is  the  result  of  mismanagement,  because  no 
horse  with  a  good  mouth  when  well  handled  can  run 
away. 

The  cure  is  not  difficult  to  effect;  but  until  that  is 
effected,  and  the  mouth  restored  to  its  proper  condition, 
the  horse  is  decidedly  Vicious. 

When  bolting  or  running  away  is  caused  by  defective 
vision,  the  vice  is,  properly  so  called,  shying;  although 
this  is  often,  by  misnomer,  called  bolting,  on  account  of 
the  difficulty  experienced  in  pulling  up,  owing  to  the 
bad  mouth. 

A  tendency  of  blood  to  the  head,  or  any  defect  in  the 
organs  of  vision,  renders  a  horse  UNSOUND. 


BITING. 

Biting  to  any  serious  extent  is  induced  in  the  horse  by 
the  nervousness  or  thoughtlessness  of  its  attendants;  it 
is,  however,  a  proof  of  ill-nature  on  the  part  of  the  horse, 
and  a  VICE. 

But  that  pretty,  half  vengeful,  half  playful  kind  of 
snapping  with  the  mouth,  while  the  ears  are  whimsically 
laid  back,  and  the  laughing  eyes  shine  with  harmless 
mischievousness — the  peculiarities  of  horses  possessing  a 
strain  of  Eastern  blood — is  no  more  a  vice  than  is  the 
gentle  bite  of  a  gambolling  puppy.  Neither  is  the  habit 
of  throwing  out  one  of  the  hind  legs  in  a  careful  manner 
— a  habit  peculiar  to  those  horses — to  be  considered  a 
vice.  But  ill-treatment  and  mismanagement  will  not 
fail  to  make  such  habits  at  length  dangerous. 


100  THE   HORSE. 

In  those  cases  in  which  a  horse  is  driven  into  doing 
wrong,  such  misconduct,  until  it  has  become  a  regular 
habit,  is  NOT  VICE. 

For  if  you  flog,  spur,  or  otherwise  punish  a  horse  till 
he  acts  wrongly,  the  fault  is  yours.  All  horses  that  are 
good  for  anything,  will  resent  improper  usage;  and  if 
you  raise  their  mettle  beyond  your  power  of  control,  the 
blame  lies  with  you,  and  not  with  the  horse. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  certain  purposes  with  man, 
the  excitement  of  his  passions  and  feelings  is  sometimes 
successfully  adopted;  but  an  excess  in  this  course  frustrates 
the  object,  and  the  result  is  the  reverse  of  what  is  desired. 

The  same  is  the  case  with  the  horse :  by  raising  his 
passions  to  a  certain  pitch,  you  bring  out  the  evidences 
of  his  high  spirit  in  the  most  graceful  action ;  but,  if  you 
venture  a  little  too  far,  you  raise  in  him  a  dangerous 
spirit  of  opposition — the  more  dangerous  as  such  cases 
occur  only  to  bad  horsemen,  who  unfortunately  depend 
entirely  upon  sheer  strength  for  getting  out  of  the  diffi- 
culty; the  natural  consequence  being  that  the  horse  is 
victorious,  and  from  that  and  subsequent  victories  ac- 
quires a  vice  most  difficult  to  cure. 

Considering  this  subject  of  great  importance,  not  only 
to  the  owner,  but  to  the  noble  animal  whose  welfare 
every  one  acquainted  with  horses,  cannot  fail  to  have  at 
heart,  I  dwell  upon  this  subject  in  the  hope  of  making 
proper  treatment,  and  the  consequences  of  ill-treatment, 
well  understood  by  all— but  especially  by  those  who  ignore 
the  fact  that  it  is  possible  to  rouse  a  horse's  temper  be- 
yond their  own  notion  of  what  is  right,  even  if  that  horse 
is  not  by  nature  vicious — and  of  proving  to  the  most  ob- 
tuse the  absurdity,  danger,  and  barbarity  of  excessive 
and  improper  punishment. 

For  it  is  but  seldom  that  the  horse  requires  correction, 
and  even  then  mildness  will,  in  most  instances,  accom- 
plish your  purpose. 


/* 

HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  101 

Let,  then,  mercy  go  hand  in  hand  with  firmness  and 
justice,  always  remembering  that  horses  are  not  innately 
vicious :  they  derive  whatever  vice  they  ever  have  from  the 
impolicy  or  cruelty  of  their  users  and  attendants;  but 
when  any  one  bad  trick  thus  acquired  has  become  a  con- 
firmed bad  habit,  it  is  a  VICE. 


PKICE. 

It  is  frequently  believed,  that  when  a  certain  price, 
varying  in  amount  according  to  the  different  notions  of 
different  people,  is  paid  for  a  horse,  and  that  price  is 
accepted  by  the  vendor,  a  warranty  is  implied.  The  ab- 
surdity of  such  a  conclusion  is  evident  from  what  may  be 
deduced  from  the  preceding  pages,  inasmuch,  as  we  have 
therein  seen  that  most  useful  horses  may  fail  to  come  up 
to  the  strict  standard  of  soundness,  while  some  of  the 
most  worthless  and  useless  are  strictly  entitled  to  such 
a  warranty. 

This  view  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that,  while  no 
used  or  second-hand  horse  exists  which  has  not  a  bar  to 
a  warranty  for  soundness,  yet,  not  unfrequently,  several 
thousand  dollars  are  given  for  a  horse  on  account  of  its 
well-known  superior  qualities  and  usefulness.  A  dis- 
tinct kind  of  warranty  for  horses  of  this  class  is,  there- 
fore, a  great  desideratum. 

A  horse  which,  contrary  to  his  natural  normal  con- 
dition, can  seldom  do  one  day's  very  hard  work  without 
for  ever  after  bearing  evidence  thereof,  can  yet  do 
an  immense  amount  of  work  continuously  for  several 
years,  in  a  satisfactory  way,  and  free  from  lameness  and 
other  inconveniences.  A  horse,  however,  that  has  never 
done  any  work,  but  shgws  similar  "  structure  "  or  symp- 
toms, must  be  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  and  ought  to 
be  called,  as  in  most  instances  he  is,  UNSOUND. 


102  THE   HOESE. 

The  difference  between  the  horse  that  has  never  been 
worked,  and  a  used  or  worked  one,  is  easily  detected. 

Horses  that  show  signs  of  past  work,  yet  perform  the 
amount  of  labor  due  from  one  of  their  class,  ought  to  be 
warranted  as  "  worked  horses." 

Thus,  when  a  worked  horse  is  no  longer  qualified  for 
the  same  kind  of  work  as  that  which  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to,  or  where  he  has  such  of  the  above-mentioned 
trifling  drawbacks,  as  are  not  detrimental  to  his  fulfill- 
ing his  vocation,  he  should  bear  a  warranty,  at  the  very 
least,  as  a  " used  horse;"  and  where  a  worked  horse  be- 
comes degraded  to  a  lower  class  (as  in  the  case  of  a  horse 
which,  no  longer  suitable  for  a  hunter  or  saddle-horse, 
yet  makes  a  very  good  harness-horse),  he  should  be  de- 
scribed in  the  warranty  as  a  "used  horse,  for  harness 
only." 

By  the  largest  users  of  this  class  of  horse,  this  want  is 
well  known  and  much  felt;  and  although  legislation  has 
not  provided  such  a  form  of  conditional  warranty,  yet  it 
is  frequently  given  and  taken  by  stage-coach  owners  and 
others.  The  warranties,  however,  accepted  by  such  per- 
sons, often  allow  too  great  laxity  in  the  case  of  horses  in- 
tended for  ordinary  purposes. 

This  is  mentioned  to  show  how  easy  it  would  be  to 
frame  such  a  warranty  for  used  horses,  as  would  benefit 
and  satisfy  both  purchasers  and  vendors. 

Three-fourths,  at  the  least,  of  our  hunters,  though  not, 
in  strictness,  entitled  to  it,  do  bear  a  warranty;  and,  in 
fact,  as  they  do  their  work  well,  and  may  never  have  been 
lame,  or  if  lame — lame  for  only  a  very  short  period — no 
one  discovers  in  them  any  deviation  from  that  standard 
of  excellence  which  is  implied  in  the  magic  word — "War- 
ranted." 

Where  then  is  the  harm  of  those  supposed  defects  which 
causes  no  inconvenience  to  our  saddle  and  other  horses? 
Change  of  structure  is  not  so  much  looked  for  or  com- 


HOW  TO   BUT   AND   SELL.  -      103 

mented  upon  in  the  slower-going  draught-horse,  in  whom 
such  change  of  structure  is  produced  more  gradually, 
owing  to  the  gentle  pace  at  which  he  is  generally  worked. 
All  that  is  expected  of  him  being  that  he  shall  do  his  al- 
lotted work  properly. 


AGED   HORSES. 

Another  plea  in  favor  of  a  definite  form  of  warranty 
for  used  horses  is  to  be  found  in  the  facts — 

1.  That  aged  horses  very  rarely  fulfill  the  conditions  of 
warranty  of  unworked  horses. 

2.  That,  notwithstanding  such  defects,  they  are  gen- 
erally well  qualified  to  do  work  required  by  the  nervous, 
the  timid,  the  elderly,  and  the  indifferent  horseman,  as 
well  as  by  those  who,  constantly  requiring  a  great  amount 
of  work  done  at  once,  have  yet  no  time  to  spare  in  care- 
fully handling,  or  in  regularly  exercising  their  horses. 

There  certainly  exists  a  senseless  prejudice  against  buy- 
ing such  old  horses;  yet,  every  real  horseman  well  knows 
the  luxury  of  using  a  fine,  active  old  horse,  which  cannot 
even  be  forced  into  doing  wrong — the  case  with  every 
horse  that  has,  for  a  considerable  time,  been  ridden  by  a 
true  horseman.  You  must  let  him,  for  the  most  part, 
judge  for  himself;  and  you  will  find  that  his  judgment  is 
right. 

Not  less  valuable  is  the  old  saddle  horse,  while  the  old 
harness  horse  knowingly  measures  the  width  of  his 
wheels,  and,  on  all  occasions,  takes  his  proper  side  of  the 
road. 

Well-seasoned  old  horses  are  less  liable  to  disease  than 
young  ones,  and  do  not  tire  so  soon. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  young  horses  will  last 
longer  in  work  than  old  ones  (provided  that  the  latter 
have  not  been  hard-worked  while  young),  working  against 


104  THE   HOKSE. 

each  other.  The  old  one  will  work  the  young  one  off  his 
legs;  while  with  similar  work  the  latter  will  succumb  in 
a  much  shorter  time,  and  unless  great  care,  attention, 
and  nursing  are  granted  to  him,  and  he  is  very  regu- 
larly exercised,  he  will  become  troublesome  and  lose  his 
health. 

The  old  horse,  on  the  contrary,  comes  out  of  his  stable, 
after  his  rest,  as  staid  and  sober  as  ever. 

I  am  aware  that  in  advocating  for  particular  purposes 
such  superiority,  I  encounter  the  prejudice  of  all  but  true 
horsemen,  who  well  know  the  valuable  qualities  of  old 
horses.  On  the  other  hand,  where  you  have  time,  and 
want  your  horses  for  ornament,  you  will  find  great  pleas- 
ure in  teaching  young  horses,  in  improving  their  mouths, 
and  in  promoting  in  them  graceful  action.  But  this 
should  be  attempted  by  those  only  who  keep  more  than 
two  horses,  without  which  it  is  very  difficult  to  do  the 
young  horses  justice. 

A  further  reason  why  the  old  horse  suits  many  persons 
is,  that  when  he  is  eight  years  old  or  more,  and  has  never 
"been  down,"  great  reliance  may  be  placed  upon  his  being 
foot  sure:  he  will  never  fall,  until  either  the  senile  weak- 
ness of  extreme  old  age  comes  upon  him,  or  he  becomes, 
from  continuous  bard  work,  leg- weary.  In  fact,  such 
work  as  this  will  bring  "  down  "  any  horse,  whatever  be 
his  age  or  make. 

By  the  time,  too,  that  he  has  arrived  at  this  age,  great- 
er dependence  can  be  placed  upon  his  eyesight;  for  all 
ravages  made  upon  his  eyes  by  disease  are,  at  the  comple- 
tion of  his  eighth  year,  pretty  well  defined,  so  that  they 
will  thenceforth  remain  in  their  then  condition,  till  work 
and  time  causes  the  pupils  to  dilate.  Old  horses,  finally, 
are  little  apt  to  notice  objects,  even  in  the  most  trifling 
way,  as  there  are  few  things  that  they  have  not  pre- 
viously seen  and  become  accustomed  to:  and  when  they 
do  meet  anything  strange  and  out  of  the  common,  they 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND    SELL.  105 

rarely  shy,  remembering  how  often  they  have  been  need- 
lessly alarn 


CLICKING — SHOVEL  AND  TONGS — POKER  AND  TONGS. 

These  terms  are  used  to  express  the  sound  produced  by, 
and  show  the  existence  of,  over-reaching 


OVER-REACHING. 

Clicking,  or  striking  the  hind  shoe  against  the  fore  one, 
while  the  horse  is  in  action,  often  proceeds  from  his  hav- 
ing been  improperly  ridden.  As  a  warranty  of  soundness 
has  nothing  to  do  with  what  a  horse  has  or  has  not  been 
taught,  so  long  as  he  is  capable,  with  proper  education, 
of  doing  the  work  due  from  one  of  his  class,  and,  there- 
fore, is  not  physically  disqualified,  he  is  SOUND. 

But  when  over-reaching  or  clicking  is  caused  by  his 
body  being  too  short  for  his  legs,  or,  as  some  express  it, 
by  his  legs  being  too  long  for  his  body,  the  danger  is 
much  greater  than  in  the  former  case;  for,  in  this  latter, 
he  is  much  more  liable  to  tread  on  the  heel  of  the  fore- 
foot, and  thus  throw  himself  down,  or  tear  off  the  fore- 
foot shoe,  in  this  instance,  also  running  a  great  risk  of 
falling.  Such  clicking  stamps  a  horse  as  UNSOUND. 

He  is  sound  so  long  as  there  is  no  abrasion  or  injury; 
but  he  requires  careful  shoeing  and  adapting  to  right 
work. 

As  long  as  any  abrasion  of  the  skin,  or  soreness  of 
heel,  arising  from  over-reaching,  exists,  the  horse  is 

UNSOUND. 

I  will  here  say,  that  whatever  may  be  the  opinion,  in 
such  cases,  as  to  soundness,  short-bod iedness  itself  is  a 
defect  of  so  glaring  a  character,  that  a  horse  of  the  kind 


106  THE   HORSE. 

will  be  rarely  palmed  off  for  any  but  the  meanest  pur- 
poses. 

Short-bodied  ness,  however,  must  not  be  confounded 
with  "  short  back;"  in  fact,  the  back  can  hardly  be  too 
short. 


YOUKG  HOESES. 

When  young  horses  are,  on  the  one  hand,  to  be  broken 
in,  in  the  short  space  of  time  not  uncommonly  allotted 
by  indifferent  horsemen,  so  as  to  be  fit  to  be  ridden,  such 
time  not  allowing  the  paces  to  become  "set";  or  when, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  are  worked  at  so  early  an  age, 
that  no  notion  can  be  formed  of  their  capabilities,  we 
cannot  but  foresee  that  they  will  come  to  some  mischief 
or  other. 

As  a  somewhat  analogous  case,  take  that  of  a  man 
brought  from  the  farm,  to  be  drilled  in  military  exercises 
for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  and  then  to  be  allowed  to  go  as 
he  pleases,  yet  tied  down  to  work  totally  different  from 
that  to  which  he  has  hitherto  been  accustomed;  and  then 
say  how  long  it  would  be  before  he  would  return  to  his 
original  gait  and  habits?  Considering  then  the  superior- 
ity of  reason  in  man  to  that  of  the  animal,  can  we  fairly 
expect  more  of  a  horse  than  of  a  man? 

The  old  soldier,  long  and  well  trained,  and  not  subse- 
quently overworked,  forever  afterwards  retains  somewhat 
of  an  erect,  military  air.  The  old  horse,  ridden  for  some 
years  by  a  good  horseman,  must  be  seriously  overworked 
if  he  do  not  show,  by  his  well-trained  gait  and  by  the  use 
of  his  haunches,  evidences  of  good  drill  and  education. 


USED   HORSES. 


The  used  horse,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  may  be 
sound — so  he  may  show  signs  of  having  been  well  broken, 


HOW   TO  BUY  AND   SELL.  107 

and  well  trained,  and  yet  not  move  in  his  old  wonted 
easy  and  graceful  style. 

In  such  case,  nothing  but  long-continued  rest  and  good 
feeding  will  bring  back  the  jaunty  step  and  manner 
which  he  certainly  once  possessed.  Kecollecting  great 
fatigues  that  he  has  undergone,  and  speculating  on  the 
probability  of  his  having  to  exert  all  his  powers,  he  care- 
fully husbands  his  resources.  He  retains  that  manner  of 
stepping  with  the  least  fatigue  to  himself,  which  experi- 
ence has  taught  him. 


LOW-ACTION,    OR  DAISY-CUTTING,    OR    GOING  NEAR  THE 
GROUND. 

Fever  in  the  feet  produces  in  horses  low  and  ungrace- 
ful action;  until  that  is  cured,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

When  such  low  action  is  produced  by  the  muscles 
being  over-strained,  until,  by  perfect  rest,  or  by  proper 
physicking,  the  horse  is  restored,  he  is  UNSOUND. 

But  the  manner  of  skimming  over  the  ground  peculiar 
to  blooded  horses,  is  sometimes  a  habit  only,  and  not 
dangerous:  so  that,  if  this  is  not  the  result  of  disease, 
the  horse  is  SOUND. 

The  above  remarks  refer  only  to  extremely  low  action. 

Action,  on  the  contrary,  may  be  too  high  for  practical 
purposes;  it  is  then  frequently  called  "  clambering." 


STUMBLING. 


Stumbling  is  often  occasioned  by  inflammation  of  the 
feet  arising  from  tightness  of  shoes,  or  from  unequal 
pressure.  A  horse  liable,  from  these  causes,  to  stumble 
is  UNSOUND. 


108  .    ;;         THE   HOKSE. 

In  most  instances,  stumbling  will  vanish  when  the 
promoting  cause  is  removed;  and  even  when  that  cause 
is  chronic  inflammation  of  the  feet,  the  disease  may  be 
greatly  relieved,  and  the  stumbling  propensity  much 
diminished. 

It  is  here  important  to  state  that  when  a  horse  is  cured, 
he  is  sound;  for  many  persons  allege  that  a  horse,  once 
unsound,  is  unsound  for  ever. 

Certainly,  there  are  some  diseases  that  leave  lasting 
traces;  and,  in  such  cases,  although  the  disease  be  so  far 
cured,  that  it  no  longer  endangers  the  animal's  life,  or 
that,  if  it  progress  at  all,  it  progresses  only  slowly,  those 
traces  of  disease  are  sufficient  to  stamp  the  horse  as 

UNSOUND. 

And  where  there  has  formerly  been  active  disease  in 
the  feet,  or  where  there  is  such  a  change  of  structure 
in  any  part  as  to  interfere  with  his  usefulness,  he  is 

UNSOUND. 

Acute  fever  frequently  terminates  in  chronic  disease, 
or  the  chronic  form  may  have  been  produced  gradually, 
lameness  appearing  and  disappearing  at  short  intervals; 
thus,  while  the  horse  is  accused  of  shamming,  the  disease 
becomes  confirmed  before  the  real  cause  is  suspected. 


FEVEK   IN   THE   FEET. 

Fever  in  the  feet  will  produce  in  a  horse  "low  action," 
or  "  going  near  the  ground,"  and  the  horse  thus  afflicted 
is  UNSOUND. 

If  fever  in  the  feet  be  of  so  recent  a  character  as  not 
to  have  caused  an  alteration  in  the  structure  of  the  feet, 
it  is  curable;  but  this  disease  is  so  rapid  in  its  progress, 
and  so  quickly  assumes  a  chronic  form  and  produces  per- 
manent lameness,  that  it  is  rarely  worth  while  buying  a 
horse  thus  affected,  unless  you  are  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  treatment  proper  for  such  cases. 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND   Mil"        T  E  E  SAT  Y 


WATEE. 

Of  the  many  promoting  causes  of  fever  in  the  feet,  I 
will  here  mention  one,  and  only  one — the  easiest  of  all  to 
prevent.  It  is  stinting  the  horse  of  water.  Let  the 
horse  have  all  the  water  that  he  chooses  to  drink;  do  not 
stint  him  in  the  least;  the  water  will  do  him  no  injury 
whatever,  if  he  is  not  worked  immediately  after  his  first 
satisfying  drink  and  he  is  watered  sufficiently  often  after- 
wards. The  number  of  times  a  day  that  he  may  want  water 
depends  on  many  and  varying  causes;  but  he  should  be 
watered  so  often  that  he  will  not  care  to  drink  more  than 
four  quarts  at  one  time.  Proportionately,  that  amount 
of  water  will  not  occupy  so  much  space  in  his  stomach 
as  does  half  a  pint  of  liquid  in  the  stomach  of  a  man. 
Some  hardy  horses  will  take  the  full  allowance  five  times 
a  day,  while  frequently  weakly  ones  will  not  take  the 
specified  quantity,  though  watered  only  twice.  Four 
times  daily  is  little  enough  for  any  of  them. 

Cold  water  acts  as  a  tonic  to  sick  and  weak  horses, 
enabling  them  to  eat  more  food,  and,  as  they  gain 
strength,  to  do  more  work. 

The  horse,  when  brought  into  the  stable,  is  taken 
from  soft,  succulent,  and  cooling  food,  and  deprived  of 
the  double  privilege  of  drinking  as  much  water  as  he 
chooses,  and  of  taking  his  exercise  when  and  how  he 
likes  on  soft  and  cool  ground,  to  be  put  upon  dry,  hard, 
stimulating  food,  regulated  in  amount;  to  be  in,  unfor- 
tunately, most  cases,  stinted  in  his  supply  of  water;  to 
be  forced  to  work  on  hard  dry  roads,  shod  as  he  is,  with 
iron  shoes  that  become  heated  by  the  continuous  friction 
they  undergo;  and,  as  a  climax,  to  be  placed,  at  the  end 
of  his  involuntary  labor,  on  a  warm,  dry  floor,  made 
still  warmer  by  an  overspread  layer  of  straw.  Need  we. 
then,  wonder  that  this  extreme  change  of  diet  does  pro- 
duce such  heat  of  body  as,  apart  from  the  forced  labor, 
is  sufficient  to  produce  decided  disease. 


110  THE  HORSE. 

Disease  thus  produced  must  necessarily  settle  in  the 
weakest  part;  and  whether  such  part  be  the  battered 
feet,  kept  warm  or  dry,  or  any  other  part,  such  as  the 
lungs,  the  liver,  the  eyes,  etc.,  thither  flies  the  malady. 


WORK. 

The  straining  produced  by  long-continued  work  causes 
horses  to  step  in  a  low  and  ungraceful  manner;  but  if 
they  are  not  thereby  prevented  from  doing  their  proper 
work  conveniently,  they  are,  nevertheless,  SOUND. 

But  should  they  be  disabled  by  past  fatigue  from  work- 
ing properly,  they  are  UNSOUND. 

In  this  case,  if  there  is  no  chronic  disease  in  them, 
good  rest  or  a  "  run  at  grass  "  will  effect  a  cure,  and  they 
are  then,  again,  SOUND. 

When  horses,  from  long-continued  fast  work,  go  near 
the  ground,  so  long  as  they  can  conveniently  fulfill  their 
proper  tasks,  they  are  SOUND. 

But  if  unable,  therefrom,  to  work  properly,  they  are 

UNSOUND. 

Where,  however,  no  chronic  disease  exists,  good  rest, 
or  turning  out  for  awhile,  may  restore  them  and  make 
them  again  SOUND. 

It  is  well  known  that  stage-coach  horses  capable  of 
going  at  the  rate  of  ten  miles,  and  compelled  to  work  at 
the  rate  of  eight  miles  an  hour,  will,  in  a  couple  of 
years,  be  unable  to  do  more  than  six;  and  yet  a  common 
observer  would  not  detect  in  such  horses  any  signs  of 
their  being  "beat "  or  distressed;  in  fact,  they  may  still 
be  in  good  condition.  This  decrease  in  their  powers, 
when  caused  by  contraction  of  the  fibre  of  the  muscles 
(if  there  is  no  other  injury  or  malady  existing),  can  by 
proper  rest  be  overcome,  and  such  horses  be  restored  to 
their  original  turn  of  speed. 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  Ill 

In  here  naming  the  case  of  the  stage-coach  horse  I  cer- 
tainly take  an  extreme  case;  besides,  this  class  of  horse  is 
degraded  from  faster  to  slower  work,  according  to  his 
capabilities  at  the  time,  so  long  as  he  suits  his  proprietor's 
purpose.  Many  private  horses  also  become  greatly 
reduced  in  their  powers  of  speed  by  careless  and  reckless 
driving;  these  latter  can,  by  sufficient  rest,  coupled  with 
slower  driving  and  more  careful  usage,  be  gradually 
restored. 

Ihus,  such  horses  as  may,  by  rapid,  careless,  or  unu- 
sually hard  work,  have  been  reduced  in  speed,  but  still 
be  capable  of  restoration  by  care  and  rest  proportionate 
to  their  particular  class,  should  be  entitled  to  be  war- 
ranted as  '  sound  as  used  horses." 

To  many  persons  such  horses  would  prove  serviceable 
and  profitable,  and  the  horses  be  themselves  saved  a  great 
deal  of  future  misery;  since,  were  the  above  facts  better 
known,  no  inconsiderable  number  of  such  horses,  requir- 
ing nothing  but  a  little  gentle  usage  and  quiet  rest,  would 
be  bought  for  work  for  which  they  were  adapted,  would 
eventually,  and  as  a  general  thing,  quickly  recover,  and 
would  thereby  escape  the  drudgery  which  only  too  often 
renders  the  rest  of  their  lives  burdensome  and  miserable. 


NECK  YEIN. 

The  irritation,  which  is  sometimes  occasioned  in  the 
neck  vein  by  the  punctures  of  the  fleam  or  lancet  in 
bleeding,  not  unfrequently  extends  to  inflammation, 
which,  beginning  at  the  orifice  of  the  puncture,  progresses 
towards  the  head,  and,  if  not  subdued,  obliterates  the 
neck  vein  on  that  side.  While  this  disease  is  in  progress, 
from  the  time  of  the  incision  to  its  thorough  determi- 
nation, the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 


112  THE   HORSE. 

When  the  vein  is  at  length  destroyed,  and  the  sur- 
rounding parts  completely  healed,  the  horse  will  not  be 
impeded  in  doing  his  proper  work,  and  will  not  require 
to  have  extra  attention  bestowed  upon  him.  Any  incon- 
venience that  he  may  experience  may  arise  from  the  low- 
ering of  his  head  in  feeding  off  the  ground  when  he  is 
"  at  grass,"  as  on  such  occasions  an  enlargement  may  be 
perceived  at  the  junction  of  the  head  and  neck,  on  the 
affected  side.  But  as  he  does  not  show  any  signs  of  the 
swelling  being  unpleasant,  as  he  does  not  demand  extra 
care,  as  he  continues  to  perform  the  proper  work  of  his- 
class,  and,  as  the  swelling  vanishes  soon  after  the  head  is 
raised,  he  is  SOUND. 

However,  the  loss  of  the  vein,  to  prevent  dispute,  had 
better  be  mentioned. 

The  deprivation  of  this  vein  in  a  horse  is  a     BLEMISH. 

When  the  neck  veins  on  both  sides  are  destroyed,  the 
horse  may  still  be  able  to  do  his  assigned  work  properly. 
Nature  oftentimes  finds  beautiful  substitutes  for  per- 
forming work  that  was  intended  to  be  done  by  apparatus 
which  has  been  destroyed.  But  if  he  is  turned  out  "at 
grass,"  and  therefore  forced  to  feed  off  the  ground,  he  is 
likely  to  be  choked;  on  that  account,  therefore,  he  re- 
quires more  than  the  ordinary  care  required  by  horses  of 
his  class,  and  is  consequently  UNSOUND. 

Where  there  is  a  liability  to  irritation  in  the  neck  vein, 
arising  either  from  constitutional  peculiarities,  or  from 
the  horse's  condition  at  the  time,  it  is  advisable  to  bleed 
from  the  leg  vein;  this  latter  vein  should  be  the  one  se- 
lected to  bleed  from  in  those  cases,  also,  in  which  the 
horse  to  be  bled  has  already  lost  one  of  the  neck  veins. 

LARGE   BARREL. 

A  good,  large,  barrel-shaped  body  is  evidence  of  a 
horse's  possession  of  good  health  and  powers  of  en- 
durance; it  is,  therefore,  a  sign  that  he  is  SOUND. 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND   SELL.  113 

But  a  distended,  bulky  stomach  is,  on  the  contrary, 
too  often  an  indication  of  dropsy,  in  which  case,  the  horse 
is  UNSOUND. 


HERRING-GUTTED. 

Herring-guttedness  is  the  converse  of  large  barrel, 
the  horse  being,  in  this  case,  small  and  straight  in  the 
body,  and,  generally,  of  a  nervous  and  irritable  dispo- 
sition; he  may,  however,  be  SOUND. 

But  if  this  fretfulness  of  disposition  renders  the  horse, 
as  is  very  commonly  the  case,  incapable  of  undergoing  the 
amount  of  labor  due  from  one  of  his  class,  he  is  then 

UNSOUND. 

Medicine  administered  to  the  horse,  either  too  fre- 
quently or  in  too  severe  doses,  will,  by  producing  chronic 
irritation  of  the  bowels,  induce  herring-guttedness.  This 
irritation  accounts  for  the  hot,  nervous,  fidgety  temper 
generally  evinced  by  small-barrelled  horses.  A  horse 
thus  suffering  is  UNSOUND. 

When,  inversely,  the  small  barrel  is  the  result  of  fret- 
fullness  and  fidgety  temper  produced  by  cruel  treatment, 
continued  kindness,  such  as  the  horse  has  a  natural  right 
to  expect,  will  soon  restore  him  to  good  temper,  and  his 
barrel  will  resume  its  proper  proportions;  in  this  case  the 
horse  is  SOUND. 

"When  a  horse  is  so  hot-tempered  as  to  be  dangerous  to 
ordinary  users,  if  he  has  been  warranted  quiet  for  that 
particular  kind  of  work  in  which  he  shows  irritability, 
he  maybe  returned  on  the  score  of  breach  of  warranty,  as 
his  fault  is  a  decided  VICE. 


HOT   WATER. 


The  too  frequent  use  of  hot  water,  administered  as  a 
drink,  produces  a  small  barrel  and  general  debility,  and 
the  horse  becomes  UNSOUND. 


114  THE  HORSE. 

But,  as  hot  or  warm  water  is  often  of  the  highest  ser- 
vice, it  is  the  excessive  use  only  of  it  that  is  to  be  con- 
demned; we  must,  therefore,  observe  that  it  is  not  the 
proper  use,  but  the  abuse  of  this  drink  that  is  to  be 
avoided. 


WASHEY. 

Washey  is  a  term  applied  to  a  horse  when  the  least  ex- 
ercise produces  in  him  purging,  the  cause  being  irrita- 
tion of  the  intestines:  such  a  horse  is  small  in  the  barrel. 
For  the  promoting  causes  of  irritation  of  the  intestines, 
see  the  article,  "  Herring-gutted." 

A  horse  laboring  under  this  malady  is  incapable  of 
performing  his  work  like  others  of  his  class,  a  very  little 
exertion  causing  him  great  inconvenience,  and  he  is, 
therefore,  UKSOUND. 

For  the  difference  between  washey  and  rumbling,  see 
the  article  "Bumbling." 


TUCKED  UP. 

Tucked  up  is  another  term  applied  to  small-barrelled 
horses,  and  is  a  condition  produced  by  various  causes:  it 
is  generally  applied  to  a  small-barrelled  horse  while  he 
shows  that  he  is  suffering  from  actual  pain,  either  that 
which  is  incidental  to  the  early  stages  of  his  recovery,  or 
that  which  is  caused  by  a  spavin,  a  prick  in  the  hind  foot, 
acute  disease,  etc.  Such  a  horse  is  UKSOUXD. 

See  also  the  articles  "  Herring-gutted,"  "  Washey,"  etc. 


RUMBLING. 

Rumbling — which  is  frequently  but  erroneously  con- 
founded with  washey,  upon  the  supposition   that  the 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND  SELL.  115 

noise  proceeds  from  air  or  water  being  lodged  in  the  in- 
testines— is,  in  fact,  a  sound  that  proceeds  from  the 
sheiith.  Horses  liable  to  rumbling  are  not  thereby  incon- 
venienced, and  are,  for  the  most  part,  good,  round-bar- 
relled horses,  and  SOUND. 
The  fact  that  mares  never  make  this  noise  is  a  sufficient 
explanation  of  its  origin. 


TRIALS   OF   USED    HOESES. 

Whenever  any  doubt  exists  as  to  the  soundness  of 
"used  horses,"  or  as  to  their  capacity  for  doing  the 
requsite  work  without  pain  or  inconvenience,  a  trial,  in 
some  cases  extending  over  several  days,  should  not  be 
grudged.  Sure  a  trial  must  of  course  be  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  the  then  condition  of  the  horse  to  be  tried ; 
that  is,  the  horse  must  be  tried  in  that  work  only  which 
can  be  expected  from  horses  of  that  class  in  which  his 
condition  at  the  time  showed  him  to  be. 

Paradoxical  as  it  might  at  first  sight  appear,  many  an 
unused  horse  would,  by  being  subjected  to  a  used  horse 
trial,  be  degraded  by  that  very  trial  to  this  second  class. 
See  "Aged  Horses." 

I  mention  this  to  show  what  attention  and  care  are  re- 
quired in  the  trial  of  a  horse,  and  especially  to  prove  that, 
while  the  slightest  marks  of  having  been  submitted  to 
even  one  day's  work  vitiate  his  title  to  a  warranty  of  the 
first  class,  he  is  yet  entitled  to  one  of  the  second  class: 
for  all  deviations  from  a  natural  state,  whether  such  be 
the  results  of  work,  or  of  any  other  cause,  debar  him 
from  a  first-class  warranty,  but  yet  do  not  disqualify  him 
for  the  performance  of  work.  Then,  if  a  doubt  arise  as  to 
the  power  of  such  a  horse,  possessing  as  he  does  certain 
defects  and  blemishes,  to  do  his  proper  work  convenient- 
ly, the  right  course  is  to  submit  him  to  trial  in  his  specific 


116  THE   HOUSE. 

vocation,  certain  regulations  and  stipulations  being  be- 
forehand agreed  upon. 

Thus,  if  the  proposed  purchase  is  warranted  to  be  in 
hunting  condition,  a  fair  and  moderate  trial  with 
hounds,  or  in  other  words,  an  ordinary  day's  hunt,  is 
justifiable;  and,  if  you  cannot  insure  the  company  of  the 
owner  for  this  purpose,  it  is  important  to  obtain  his-  pre- 
vious consent  to  the  extreme  test  to  which  you  propose  to 
subject  the  horse. 

For  a  real  and  experienced  horseman,  a  short  trial  suf- 
fices; for  he  knows  well  the  state  of  condition  that  the 
horse  under  trial  requires  to  qualify  him  for  his  work, 
and  the  necessity  for  making  ample  allowance  for  any  ap- 
parent defect. 

STOPPING. 

Some  horses  have  a  trick  of  suddenly  stopping,  or  pull- 
ing up  short,  when  going  at  a  fast  pace.  A  horse  of  this 
kind  is  dangerous,  from  the  likelihood  of  his  throwing 
moderate  riders  over  his  head:  such  a  trick  is  a 

VICE. 

This  trick  is  additionally  dangerous,  because  a  horse 
that  has  this  habit,  will,  probably,  if  hastily  urged  on  to 
start  afresh,  begin  some  other  trick.  If  this  habit  is  not 
of  very  recent  growth,  it  is  very  difficult  to  cure,  requiring 
a  true  horseman's  vigilance  and  patience:  the  horse  is, 
however,  SOUND. 

But  where  disease  of  the  eyes  is  the  cause  of  this  habit, 
no  cure  can  be  effected  until  the  disease  is  removed,  and, 
in  the  interim,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

TURNING. 

Turning,  that  is,  sudden  and  improper  turning  or 
twisting  round,  is  a  dangerous  and  troublesome  habit; 
when  it  is  not  caused  by  disease,  it  is  a  VICE. 


HOW  TO   BUY  AND   SELL.  117 

But  if,  upon  examination  of  the  eyes  of  the  horse,  you 
find  them  to  be  diseased  or  injured,  you  must  then  treat 
him,  not  as  vicious,  but  as  UNSOUND. 


STIFF   HOCKS. 

Some  horses  are  naturally  stiff er  and  less  elastic  than 
others  in  the  movements  of  the  hocks.  It  is  only  by 
the  stiffness  of  these  propellers — cceteris  paribus — that 
a  horse  is  prevented  from  being  the  fastest  of  his  kind. 

There  are,  therefore,  relative  degrees  of  perfection  of 
horses  in  this  respect;  so  that,  where  the  degree  of  elas- 
ticity is  insufficient  for  one  species  of  work,  it  may  yet 
be  suited  to  work  of  another  kind,  so  long  as  such  com- 
parative stiffness  does  not  inconvenience  the  horse;  and 
the  buyer  has  every  opportunity  for  ascertaining  whether 
the  "paces  " of  his  proposed  purchase  are  suitable  for  the 
labor  required. 

Stiff  or  naturally  slow  hocks  do  not  prevent  the  horse 
from  being  declared  SOUND. 

Where,  however,  as  in  the  articles  "Spavin"  and 
"  Curb,"  such  stiffness  is  caused  by  disease,  the  horse  is 

UNSOUND. 


HARD   MOUTH. 

The  mouth  being  so  hard  as  to  render  the  horse  un- 
manageable by  ordinary  users  is  a  VICE. 

But  to  this  rule  there  is  a  well-known  exception  in  the 
case  of  "trotters,"  which  are  expected  to  run  away  in 
trotting,  and  which,  from  their  make,  as  before  described, 
must  bear  heavily  on  the  bit,  so  as  to  be  kept  upon  their 
legs.  With  this  class  of  horses,  a  hard  mouth  is  consid- 
ered rather  a  virtue. 


118  THE   HORSE. 

This  expression — hard  mouth — often  misleads  users 
into  treating  a  horse  as  if  he  had  altogether  lost  all  sen- 
sation in  his  mouth,  thereby  aggravating  instead  of 
remedying  the  evil;  the  fact  being,  that  mismanagement 
has  drilled  the  horse  into  bearing  unnecessary  punish- 
ment of  the  bit — while  a  good  horseman  will  quickly 
make  the  horse  answer  his  hand,  and  in  a  short 
time  permanently  restore  the  tone  and  liveliness  of  its 
mouth. 


WOUNDS. 


Wounds  of  every  description,  however  slight  they  may 
be,  since  there  is  no  certainty  as  to  how  they  may  termi- 
nate, stamp  a  horse  as  UNSOUND. 


ABRASIONS. 

Very  slight  abrasions,  though  scarcely  attracting  notice, 
and  requiring  little  if  any  special  care,  yet,  for  the  time 
being,  stamp  the  horse  as  UNSOUND. 

Should  abrasions,  however,  occur  on  any  joint,  such  as 
the  knee,  etc.,  or  any  other  important  part,  as  gravel 
may  have  worked  in,  and  the  bruise  be,  consequently, 
serious,  additional  attention  is  called  for.  In  this  case  the 
horse  is  decidedly  UNSOUND. 

But  when  the  abrasion  is  perfectly  healed,  he  is 

SOUND. 


BALD   PLACES. 

Bare  or  bald  places,  which  occur  on  many  parts  of 
horses'  bodies,  are  not  deserving  of  much  notice,  not 
being  indications  of  any  fault,  nor  of  any  liability  to  ac- 
cidents. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  119 

However,  when  they  are  accounted  unsightly,  they  are 
considered  to  be  BLEMISHES. 

With  a  saddle-horse  such  a  blemish,  occurring  on  the 
shoulders,  is  decidedly  unsightly,  while,  in  a  harness- 
horse  otherwise  suitable  for  the  purpose,  it  would  be 
ridiculous  to  object  to  that  which  is  covered  by  the  col- 
lar. The  same  reasoning  applies  to  the  marks  beneath 
the  roller  or  saddle,  as  well  as  to  all  such  as  are  covered 
by  the  horse's  trapping  when  at  work. 


BLEMISHES. 

All  scars  left  from  wounds  or  sores,  as  well  as  all  un- 
sightly enlargements,  whether  such  be  the  effects  of 
blows,  work,  or  sprains,  are  blemishes. 

Some  blemishes  do  and  some  do  not  impair  the  horse's 
value:  thus,  while  collar-marks  are  considered  a  disgrace 
to  a  saddle-horse,  and  lessen  his  value,  in  a  very 
superior  harness-horse  they  would  be  altogether  over- 
looked. 

Broken  knees  lessen  the  market  price  of  all  horses.  So, 
also,  does  the  loss  of  one  or  both  eyes. 

Marks  on  the  fetlock  show  that  the  horse  has,  at  some 
time  or  other,  cut,  and  therefore  require  to  be  noticed 
with  a  view  to  seeing  what  probability  there  is  that  he 
will  do  so  again.  But  if  such  marks  are  not  the  result  of 
any  peculiarity  in  his  make,  they  may  be,  perchance,  of 
no  consequence,  as  it  is  possible  they  may  have  been  pro- 
duced in-  him  when,  as  a  colt,  he  was  being  broken,  or 
when  subsequently,  he  was  laboring  under  severe  ill- 
ness, fatigue,  or  want  of  condition. 

The  observations  here  made  are  intended  merely  to  as- 
sist in  deciding  the  relative  bearing  and  importance  of 
blemishes  in  general,  each  particular  one  being  treated  of 
in  its  proper  place  in  this  work. 


120  THE   HOESE. 

GALLS. 

Galls  are  injuries  arising  from  some  part  of  the  horse's 
furniture,  such  as  the  collar,  saddle,  etc. 


SADDLE-BACK — CRADLE-BACK — HOLLOW-BACK — LOW- 
BACK. 

Saddle-back,  cradle-back,  hollow-back,  and  low-back, 
are  terms  used  to  denote  the  form  of  a  horse  who  has  his 
back  lower  than  in  ordinary  cases. 

Such  a  horse,  when  not  so  low  in  the  bend  of  the  back 
as  to  be  disqualified  for  carrying  a  fair  amount  of  weight, 
is  generally  easy  and -pleasant  to  ride,  and  SOUND. 

But,  when  the  back  is  so  low  that  the  horse  cannot 
carry  proper  weight,  though  he  may  be  a  good  harness- 
horse,  he  is,  as  a  saddle-horse,  UNSOUND. 

For  harness  such  a  horse  may  be  considered  sound,  and 
he  is  by  some  preferred  for  his  showing  an  elevated  fore- 
hand. 


EOACH-BACK — HIGH-BACK. 

Roach  or  high-back  is  the  inverse  of  low-back,  and  is 
frequently  produced  in  a  horse  by  his  being  set  to  draw 
heavy  weights  while  he  is  young.  When  it  occurs  to  a 
moderate  extent  only,  it  does  not  impede  him  in  his 
work,  and  he  is,  therefore,  SOUND. 

Even  though  it  does  not  interfere  with  his  title  to  a 
warranty  of  soundness,  yet,  when  it  is  a  positive  disfig- 
urement to  the  horse,  it  is  held  to  be  a  BLEMISH. 

When  the  back  is  weakened,  or  the  horse  is  thereby 
impeded  in  his  work,  he  is  UNSOUND. 


HOWTOBUTAOTSE3  R 


NI  VEITY 


COLLAR-WRUNG. 


So  long  as  the  collar-wrung  horse  is 
the  raw  part  is  completely  healed,  and  covered  with  skin, 
he  is  UNSOUND. 

When  the  sore  is  thoroughly  covered  with  new  skin,  he 
is  SOUND. 

But  the  bald  place  or  mark  showing  the  site  of  the 
former  injury  is  a  BLEMISH. 

Should  the  horse  be  intended  for  harness-work,  and 
the  mark  be  neither  too  high  nor  too  low  to  be  covered 
by  a  well-fitting  collar,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  take 
particular  notice  of  so  trivial  a  blemish  concealed  as  it 
is,  especially  if  the  horse  be  quite  free  from  incon- 
venience, and  be,  in  all  other  respects,  suited  to  your 
purpose. 

From  the  size  of  the  blemish  it  is  conspicuous  and  un- 
sightly in  a  saddle  horse;  besides,  you  must  remember 
that  the  same  mark  which  is  hidden  by  the  winter's  coat, 
often  reappears  in  all  its  ugliness  when  the  horse  is 
clipped,  and  when  he  changes  his  coarser  coat  for  the 
finer  gloss  of  summer. 


BLEEDING. 

Bleeding,  simple  as  the  operation  seems,  and  in  spite 
of  the  careless  and  slovenly  manner  in  which  many  horse 
owners  allow  it  to  be  performed,  is  not  unattended  with 
danger. 

As  mischievous  and  unexpected  results  follow  from 
even  the  most  carefully-executed  operation,  until  the 
orifice  made  by  the  lancet  or  fleam  is  completely  healed, 
the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

When  he  is  healed,  and  no  evil  effects  or  symptoms  re- 
main, he  is  SOUND. 

See  article  on  "  Neck- vein." 


122  THE   HOESE. 

Any  large  unsightly  knot  or  lump  about  the  neck- 
vein  will  generally  be  found  to  be  the  effect  of  bleeding, 
and  must  be  considered  a  BLEMISH. 


SCARS. 
See  "Wounds"  and  "Blemishes." 

FIRING. 

It  is  not  advisable  here  to  discuss  the  merits  or  de- 
merits of  firing,  as  deep  or  severe  firing  is  seldom  re- 
sorted to. 

When  the  horse  has  been  subjected  to  such  an  ordeal, 
however  neatly  the  operation  may  have  been  performed, 
the  mark,  which  will  remain  as  long  as  he  lives,  must  be 
held  to  be  a  BLEMISH. 

Such  is  not  the  case,  however,  with  superficial  firing, 
as  then,  in  most  cases,  the  traces  are  scarcely  perceptible; 
therefore,  except  in  rare  instances,  these  slight  traces  do 
not  constitute  a  BLEMISH. 

If,  after  firing,  the  horse  goes  free  from  lameness  and 
inconvenience,  the  disease  being  completely  removed  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  scars  resulting  from  the  oper- 
ation no  alteration  of  structure  having  taken  place,  he  is 

SOUND. 

NERVOUSNESS. 

Nervousness  or  fidgetiness  in  the  horse's  disposition  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  render  him  difficult  to  clean,  har- 
ness, saddle,  bridle,  or  put  into  the  stable,  or  as  to  make 
him  jump  or  start  at  any  unaccustomed  noise  or  sight  in 
or  out  of  the  stable,  is  a  VICE. 

Although  this  fidgetiness  and  restlessness  are  generally 
caused  by  the  mismanagement  or  thoughtlessness  of  the 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  123 

attendants,  proper  treatment  will  restore  the  horse  to 
tranquility  and  usefulness.  But  none  but  an  accom- 
plished horseman  should  venture  to  possess  such  a  horse 
until  it  is  cured  of  such  habits,  as  the  nervousness  or  ig- 
norance of  the  rider  will  only  render  the  horse  worse, 
and  drive  him  into  a  dangerous  state  of  desperation. 

LAMPAS. 

Lampas  is  a  fullness  in  the  mouth  of  young  horses  and 
is  so  generally  confined  to  them  as  to  be  almost  an  incon- 
trovertible proof  of  youth. 

If  lampas  interferes  with  their  eating,  a  little  blood 
should  be  taken  away  by  scarifying  the  roof  of  the  mouth, 
or  a  dose  of  physic  sliould  be  administered.  Until  one 
of  these  two  courses  is  adopted,  the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 

As  soon  as  the  bleeding  in  the  mouth  is  finished,  and 
the  wound  healed,  or  the  medicine  has  worked  oif,  the 
horse  will  feed  as  well  as  ever,  and  is  SOUND. 

This  complaint  would  hardly  be  worth  so  much  notice 
if  it  were  not  for  the  barbarous  and  cruel  practice,  too 
commonly  resorted  to,  of  burning  out  or  cauterizing,  and 
so  putting  the  animal  to  much  unnecessary  pain,  pre- 
venting him  during  several  days  from  eating,  and  mag- 
nifying a  scarcely  noticeable  triviality  into  a  matter  of 
consequence. 

Another  bad  effect  of  cautery  is  the  premature  shrink- 
ing or  withering  of  the  gums,  thereby  giving  the  horse 
an  appearance  of  age  greater  than  is  really  the  case;  for 
the  teeth  do  not,  either  in  man  or  quadrupeds,  grow 
longer  as  age  advances,  but  the  gums,  as  they  recede, 
leave  exposed  a  larger  portion  of  the  teeth,  which  thereby 
apparently  increase  in  length.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
teeth,  when  no  longer  maintained  firmly  in  their  places 
by  the  gums,  begin  to  fall  out,  and  so  give  an  apparent 
but  false  confirmation  of  the  supposition  of  old  age. 


124  THE   HOBSE. 

Besides  the  false  appearance  of  age  that  cautery  gives, 
premature  decrepitude  and  its  attendant  ills  are  to  be 
feared  and  avoided;  for,  that  such  ills  must  follow,  is 
sufficiently  clear  when  we  consider  how  certain  it  is  that 
the  powers  of  digestion  and  mastication  are  impaired  if 
not  lost  when  the  teeth  are  gone. 

This  shows  the  importance  of  not  unnecessarily  re- 
ducing the  fullness  of  the  mouth. 


WALL-EYES. 

According  to  popular  rumor  wall-eyes  never  become 
blind,  though  how  this  error  has  originated  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see. 

The  appearance  peculiar  to  wall-eyes  is  due  to  the  ab- 
sence of  the  coloring  matter  of  the  iris,  and  therefore, 
were  it  true  that  the  colored  eye  alone  was  liable  to  blind- 
ness, wall-eyes  would  be  the  only  sound  ones;  and,  in 
such  case,  He  who  has  arranged  with  perfect  wisdom 
everthing  for  the  good  of  His  creatures  would  have  made 
them  the  most  prevalent,  and  not  the  exception. 

The  truth  is  that  such  eyes  are  neither  weaker  nor 
stronger  than  ordinary  ones,  and  are,  therefore,  SOTOD. 

And  wall-eyes  are  not  considered  a  BLEMISH. 

WHITE  OF  EYES. 

A  horse  that  usually  shows  much  white  of  the  eye, 
particularly  at  the  front  corner,  or  that  nearer  to  the 
nose,  is,  in  most  cases,  hasty  and  nervous,  if  not  violent, 
and  you  may  believe,  accustomed  to  ill  usage. 

In  exceptional  instances  you  will  find  a  mild-tempered 
horse  showing  much  of  the  white,  owing  to  the  unusual 
smallness  of  the  iris,  but  the  difference  of  expression  in 
the  two  cases  is  most  apparent,  the  one  expressing  rage 


HOW   TO   BUY   AND   SELL.  125 

or  fear,  while  the  other  beams  with  mildness  and  confi- 
dence. 

EXCHANGE. — SWAP. 

In  an  exchange,  or,  as  it  is  technically  termed,  in  a 
swap,  it  is  vulgarly  believed  that  no  warranty,  given  by 
either  party  to  the  transaction,  is  binding. 

Absurd  as  this  may  appear,  I  am  not  aware  that  the 
question  has  ever  been  decided  judicially;  and  I  will, 
therefore,  mention  the  method  adopted  by  those  who 
affect  to  be  aware  of  this  singularity. 

A  gives  B  a  receipt  for  two  hundred  dollars,  and  a 
cheque  for  one  hundred,  and  receives  B's  horse;  while  B 
gives  A  a  receipt  for  three  hundred  dollars,  and  takes  A's 
horse,  A  having  agreed  with  B  to  value  their  horses  at, 
respectively,  two  hundred  and  three  hundred  dollars. 

Then  A  imagines  that,  should  the  horse  which  he  has 
taken  of  B  not  fulfill  the  terms  of  the  warranty,  he  can 
recover  his  three  hundred  dollars;  and  equally  satisfied  is 
B  that,  if  the  warranty  which  he  has  received  from  A  is 
not  verified  to  the  letter,  he  will  get  his  two  hundred 
dollars  returned;  or  the  one  imagines  that,  in  such  case, 
he  may  compel  the  other  to  a  re-exchange,  so  as  to  place 
both  A  and  B  in  the  same  position  as  that  in  which  they 
were  prior  to  the  transaction. 

I  do  not  myself  see  why  a  warranty  given  in  a  swap  or 
exchange  should  be  void,  especially  when  a  money  con- 
sideration is  given  and  received.  But,  as  it  is  advisable 
to  avoid  litigation  as  far  as  possible,  I  would  suggest 
that,  in  an  exchange,  each  party  to  the  contract  should 
hold  a  warranty  in  writing  from  the  other,  the  value  set 
upon  the  horse  being  marked  thereon. 

PARALYSIS. 

The  loss  of  the  use  of  any  limb  or  function,  through  in- 
jury to  the  brain,  the  nerves,  or  the  muscles,  is  paralysis. 


126  THE  HOUSE. 

Horses  laboring  under  a  liability  to  this  disease  are,  on 
some  occasions,  deprived  instantaneously  of  the  use  of 
the  part  so  affected;  as,  for  example,  a  horse  will  become 
paralyzed  in  his  leg  while  he  is  in  action.  I  have  known 
horses,  while  trotting  or  galloping  rapidly,  to  be  deprived 
momentarily  of  the  use  of  a  leg  to  the  great  risk  of  the 
rider,  and,  after  a  few  moments,  to  recover  the  use  as 
suddenly,  and  proceed  as  well  as  ever,  until  again 
attacked.  A  horse  liable  to  paralysis  is  UNSOUND. 

Until  this  disease  has  endured  long  enough  to  shrink 
or  partially  wither  the  muscles,  it  is  not  easily  detected 
by  those  who  are  not  conversant  with  the  symptoms. 

Paralysis  must  not  be  associated  with  "  shrunk  mus- 
cles "  when  the  muscles  are  shrunk  from  other  causes. 


HUMORS. 


Humor  is  a  term  applied  to  swelling  of  the  legs  and 
other  parts  of  the  horse,  and  to  small  spots  on  the  body 
which  denote  a  want  of  medicine  or  bleeding.  When 
humor  arises  from  weakness  or  overwork,  tonics  should 
be  applied  occasionally,  but  as  they  are  not  popularly 
understood  by  the  term  medicine,  it  is  right  they  should 
be  mentioned  to  prevent  the  substitution  of  depletents. 

A  horse  while  thus  troubled  is  UNSOUND. 

When  the  effect  of  the  medical  treatment  is  over,  and 
the  indication  of  its  necessity  removed,  he  is  again  SOUND. 

See  article  on  "  Surfeit." 


CLAMBERING. 


The  high  and  short  stepping  of  a  horse  is  called 
clambering. 


HOW  TO  BUY  AND   SELL.  127 

Clamberers  are  slow  and,  from  the  great  waste  of 
muscular  energy,  are  but  poor  workers;  they  are  in  this 
respect,  however,  SOUND. 


HIGH  HIPS. 

High  hips  are  very  unsightly;  they  owe  their  promi- 
nence to  narrowness  of  the  loins,  and  are  therefore  weak; 
high -hipped  horses  are  long  in  the  waist,  that  is,  they 
are 'too  lengthy  from  the  hip  to  the  last  rib;  they  are 
inclined  to  be  washy,  and  purge  when  exercised  or  sharply 
worked,  and  are  frequently  hot  and  colicky  in  temper. 

All  large-hipped  horses  are  good  leapers,  on  account  of 
the  great  leverage  provided  by  their  wide  hips,  and  are, 
in  this  respect,  SOUND. 

Where  the  loins  are  good,  not  flat  sided,  and  ' '  well 
ribbed  home,"  the  wider  the  hips  the  greater  the  horse's 
power;  in  such  case  the  angularity  is  softened  and  the 
horse  is  a  very  superior  one  for  work. 


NABBOW  LOINS. 


Narrow  and  weak  loins  are  generally  found  with  narrow 
hips,  the  defectiveness  in  this  case  being  even  worse  than 
in  that  of  high  hips;  but  as  the  two  defects  generally  go 
together,  I  refer  to  the  article  on  "  High  Hips."  Nar- 
row-loined  horses  are  SOUND. 


LONG  WAIST. 


Long  waist  is  a  term  applied  to  horses  that  are  very 
lengthy  between  the  last  rib  and  the  haunch-bone :  such 
horses  are  weakly,  have,  generally,  small  loins,  but  are, 
so  far,  SOUND. 

See  the  preceding  two  articles. 


128  THE   HORSE. 

WIDE   BEHIND. 

Horses  that  spread  or  straddle  their  hind-legs  when  in 
fast  action  usually  do  so  to  prevent  treading  on  the  fore- 
feet, their  shoulders  being  too  upright  to  allow  the  fore- 
feet to  be  thrown  forward  sufficiently  to  be  out  of  reach 
of  the  hind  ones.  They  are  seldom  good  travellers. 
Their  hocks  are  generally  skewed  or  "  cow-hocked,"  and 
supposed  to  be  weaker  and  more  subject  to  disease. 
Unless,  however,  it  amounts  to  an  extreme  malforma- 
tion, they  are  SOUND. 

But  when  they  gt)  wide  owing  to  stiff  or  diseased 
hocks,  they  are  UNSOUND. 

See  article  on  "  Upright  Shoulders." 

DISHING. 

Dishing  is  a  term  used  to  express  the  movements  of 
those  horses  which  turn  out  their  fore-feet  when  in 
action;  they  usually  lift  their  legs  high  and  are  safe  to 
ride,  but  unpleasant,  partly  on  account  of  the  peculiar 
roll  of  the  shoulders,  and  also  because  their  action 
bespatters  riders  with  mud. 

This  action  is  sometimes  induced  by  bad  breaking; 
with  work  it  generally  leaves  horses,  or  as  they  get 
stronger  with  age  they  lose  the  habit. 

A  horse  that  thus  turns  his  feet  is  unable  to  perform 
long  journeys  or  to  do  extraordinary  work,  on  account  of 
the  amount  of  exertion  consumed  in  accomplishing  the 
useless  labor. 

Horses  that  have  this  habit  may  still  be  considered 

SOUND. 

PIGEON-TOED. 

Horses  that  stand  with  the  fronts  of  the  hoofs  turned 
towards  each  other  are  called  pigeon-toed. 


HOW  TO   BUY   AND   SELL. 

They  are  commonly  considered  to  be  unsafe,  but  this 
depends  upon  the  width  of  chest,  and  upon  whether  they 
can  or  cannot  perform  all  their  paces  without  the  toes  of 
one  foot  touching  the  other  leg  so  as  to  interfere  with 
the  usefulness  of  their  action. 

If  this  peculiarity,  then,  does  not  make  them  defective 
in  the  execution  of  their  proper  work,  they  are  SOUND. 

Of  this  I  have  known  many  instances  amongst  extra- 
ordinarily good  horses. 

But,  should  the  peculiarity  impede  them  in  their 
labor,  they  are  UNSOUND. 


COCK-THBOTTLED. 

Horses  that  are  stiff  at  the  setting  on  of  the  head  to 
the  neck  are  termed  cock-throttled. 

They  cannot  bring  their  noses  in  properly,  and  are 
unpleasant  to  ride,  from  their  not  giving  way  with  that 
elasticity  which  is  required  by  the  horseman's  hand,  but 
yet  are  SOUND. 

When  this  defect  is  not  cgck-throttle  proper,  but  is 
produced  by  sore  throat,  by  a  swelling  of  the  vicinal 
glands,  by  severe  cold,  or  by  the  commencement  of 
strangles,  the  stiffness  being  occasioned  by  actual  disease, 
the  horse  is  UNSOUND. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Abrasions 118 

Age 81 

Aged  Horses 103 

Artificial  Contraction 25 

Asthma 63 

Back,  broken 53 

"    chinked 52 

"    cradle 120 

"    high 120 

41    hollow 120 

"    low 120 

"    roach 120 

"    saddle 120 

Bald  places 118 

Bandages 33 

Bar  shoes 30 

Bastard  Strangles,  or  Yives 91 

Bearing-Rein 57 

Bent  before 92 

Biting 99 

Bleeding 72,  111 

Blemishes 119 

Blindness,  total -22 

Blood  Spavin. 44 

Bog  Spavin 45 

Bolting — Running  away £4,  99 

Boots 97 

Broken  Back 53 

Canker 32 

Capped  Hocks 40 

Chinked  Back 52 

Clambering 126 

Clicking  —  Shovel   and   Tongs  — 

Poker  and  Tongs 105 

Coat,  staring. . .' 47 

Cock-throttled 129 

Colds 62,  89 

Collar-wrung 121 

Contraction,  artificial  25 

Corns 26 

Cough 62 

Cough,  chronic 62 

Courage 50 

Cradle-back 120 

Crib-biting 63 

"         prevention  of 63 

Curbs 37 

Cutting 48 

Daisy -cutting 107 

Dealers'  Horses 73 

Diet  and  Exercise 73 

130 


PAGE 

Dishing  128 

Dropping  before 54 

Dropping  behind 53 

Dullness 68 

Eating  Beds 64 

Enlargements,  soft 96 

Examination 15 

Exchange— Swap 125 

Exercise  and  Diet  73 

Eyes,  the 20 

"      wall 124 

"      white  of 124 

False  Quarter 28 

Feet,  contracted 23 

"      contraction  of  the 15 

"      fever  in  the 108 

Firing 122 

Fleshy  Heel 55 

Foot,  flat        17 

"     perfect 17 

Galls 120 

Glanders T   89 

Grease 46 

Groggy 40 

Grunting. . . 60 

Harness,  quiet  in ,   ...  81 

Hard  Mouth  117 

Heel,  fleshy 55 

Heels,  cracked 46 

Height  and  Age 81 

Herring-gutted 113 

High-back 120 

Hip,  low    46 

Hips,  high 127 

Hocks 36 

"    capped 40 

Hollow-back 120 

Hoofs,  open 17 

Horse,  the  sound 66 

"     aged 103 

"      dealers' 73 

"      saddle 74 

"      used 106 

"      trialof 115 

"      young 106 

Hot  Water 113 

Humors 126 

Hunters 74 

Jibbing 98 

Joints,  enlarged 96 

"     other  Diseases  of...  ..46 


INDEX. 


131 


PAGE 

Knees,  the 18 

Knees,  broken 19 

"       swollen -0 

Knuckling 95 

Lame 41 

Lameness 54 

"         cunning 55 

Lampas 123 

Large  Barrel 112 

Leather  Soles 31 

Legs,  swollen 47 

Loins,  narrow 127 

Long  Pasterns 96 

Long  Waist 127 

Low  Action  or  Daisy-cutting,  or 

going  near  the  Ground 107 

Low-back 120 

Low  Hip 46 

Malformations, 69 

Medicine 73,  86 

Mouth,  hard 107 

"       the 22 

Narrow  Loins 127 

Neck  Vein Ill 

Nervousness 122 

Open  Hoofs 17 

Over-reaching 10o 

Paralysis  125 

Pasterns,  long 96 

Pigeon-toed 129 

Play—Playfulness — 84 

Poker  and  Tongs K»5 

Price 101 

Pumice  Sole 18 

Quiet  in  Harness 81 

RatTail 49 

Rearing 97 

Receipts  on  Warranty "^ 

Rheumatism 43 

Ring  Bones 31 

Roach-back. .  120 

Roaring        60 

Rumbling 114 

Running  away— Bolting 84,  99 

Saddle  Horses 74 

Saddle- back    Cradle-back,  Hollow- 
back,  Low-back. 120 

Sand-crack 27 

Scars 122 

Shoulders,  upright 92 

Shovel  and  Tongs 105 

Sbying 82 


PAGE 

Sinews ' , 59 

Skittishneas 86 

Soft  Enlargements 96 

Spavin,  blood 44 

bog 45 

Spavins 38 

Speedy-cut 34 

Splents 33 

Staring  Coat 47 

Starting 84 

StiffHocks  117 

Stopping. .  116 

Strangles 88 

String  Halt 45 

Stumbling 107 

Surfeit 72 

Swap 125 

Thorough  Pins 44 

Thrushes 29 

Trial,  the 69 

Trials  of  Used  Horses 115 

Tucked-up 114 

Turning 116 

Unnerving 49 

Upright  Joints— Knuckling 93 

Upright  Shoulders 92 

Used  Horses 106 

'     "  trial  of 115 

Vein,  neck Ill 

Vices...   76 

Vives 91 

Waist,  long 127 

Wall-Eyes 124 

Warranties,  Receipts  on 79 

Warranty 13 

Warranty,  use  of 13 

Washey 114 

Water 109 

Water,  hot 113 

Weaving 67 

Weaving,  cure  of 68 

Wens 47 

Wheezing 62 

Whistling 61 

White  of  Eyes 124 

Wide  behind 128 

Wind,  broken 59 

Wind-sucking 67 

Windgalls 32 

Work 110 

Wounds 118 

Young  Horses 106 


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